A Secret Service laptop with info on President Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton stolen. PHOTO/PEXELs
By ABDULHAKIM SHERMAN
newsdesk@reporter.co.ke
A Secret Service laptop with information on President Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton has been stolen according to CBS News.
According to law enforcement sources who talked to CBS News homeland security correspondent Jeff Pegues, the stolen laptop, contains pages of important and sensitive information.
Reports indicate that detectives with the New York Police Department are searching for the stolen laptop. The sources said some of the documents are important files on Pope Francis.
Law enforcement sources told CBS News the computer also contained:
- Information about Trump Tower
- Information on Hillary Clinton
- Also missing were Secret Service agent lapel pins for the Trump and Clinton campaigns and 2015 papal visit
If the information on the laptop was released, it could be considered a compromise of national security, CBS News adds.
The laptop was stolen from a Secret Service agent’s vehicle Thursday morning at about 8:40, Pegues reports. Authorities are examining surveillance video to try and identify a potential suspect.
A law enforcement official told CBS News that police have yet to determine whether the agent was targeted or a victim of a crime of opportunity. Some of the agent’s personal belongings were also stolen during the Brooklyn break-in, the official said.
Information on Trump Tower was in the stolen laptop. PHOTO/ALAMY
The Secret Service confirmed in a statement on Friday that a laptop issued by the agency was stolen and that an employee was “the victim of a criminal act.”
“Secret Service issued laptops contain multiple layers of security including full disk encryption and are not permitted to contain classified information,” the agency said.
Also Friday, law enforcement sources confirmed that the Secret Service was planning to take action against some of the officers on the White House grounds when an intruder was arrested near the South Portico entrance last Friday, Pegues reports.
Jonathan Tran of Milpitas, California, was charged in federal court with jumping the White House fence. He could face 10 years if convicted.
Court records say Tran, 26, was apprehended by Secret Service members as he was approaching the South Portico entrance, CBS News correspondent Chip Reid reports. He was carrying two cans of Mace but claimed he was a “friend of the president” and that he had an appointment.
Mr. Trump was in the White House at the time. During lunch with Cabinet secretaries on Saturday, the president said the Secret Service did a “fantastic job.”
The law enforcement sources told CBS News on Friday that Secret Service officials examined video footage of the incident and were alarmed by the response.
Information on Pope Francis visit in the US was in the stolen laptop. PHOTO/PEXELS
Any discipline was expected to include suspension and possible termination, the sources said.
House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz was critical of the latest White House incident
“The idea that someone could jump the fence of the White House, be on the grounds for upwards of 15 minutes, be right up against the building, hide behind the pillar, and then jiggle the door … that can never, never happen and yet it happened again,” he said.
In 2014, Omar Gonzalez, armed with a knife, jumped the fence on the north side, ran into the White House and eluded eight Secret Service members before being tackled in the East Room.
A report later found a series of errors ranging from faulty radios and alarms to Secret Service fatigue and understaffing.
That same year, another fence-jumper was tackled by Secret Service dogs.
The latest incidents come on the heels of Director Joe Clancy leaving the agency. He had been brought out of retirement to stop the breaches.
The fence is about 7 feet tall. The government plans to build a new one nearly 12 feet tall, but construction isn’t expected to begin until 2018.
