INQUISITR.COM / Entertainment

Trump’s White House Intruder ‘Friend’ Arrested, Twitter Picks On Obama

By Peter Will
Published on: 09:41 PST, Mar 11, 2017

As word spread of an unidentified intruder breaching the White House on Friday, Twitterati reveled in identifying the fence-jumper. Not surprisingly, top picks were President Donald Trump and his predecessor Barack Obama.

The White House intruder had entered the grounds with a backpack. Just before midnight when the breach occurred, the president was reportedly inside his official residence. The man who scaled the fence was later accosted by Secret Service and handed over to the local police but not before he successfully made his way onto the grounds, undetected.

No weapons or hazardous material was found in the backpack but the incident provided Twitter users enough ammunition to pick on Trump.

First Lady Melania Trump also became the object of ridicule.

In the backdrop of the wiretap controversy, many wondered if the president would point fingers at former POTUS Obama for the reported breach. Trump supporters took a dig at White House’s previous incumbent.

Hilary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton too were not spared.

Meanwhile, others made subtle references to perceived state of affairs at the White House after the intruder made headlines.

Friday’s breach was the first after President’s Trump’s election. Similar incidents occurred during Obama’s rule, including the widely reported instance involving U.S. army veteran Omar Gonzalez. In 2014, Gonzalez made it farther than any other White House intruder and was allegedly carrying a knife. Though he had said he did not want to hurt anyone, Gonzalez had assaulted an officer. He was sentenced to 17 months in prison after pleading guilty. The breach and others from the time had resulted in changes in the Secret Service, including shunting out of its then director. Trump is yet to name a successor to Joseph Clancy, the agency’s chief who recently retired, USA Today reported.

In the latest intrusion, security cameras revealed the White House intruder had scaled fence near the neighboring Treasury Building. After being discovered close to the south entrance, according to CNN, the man told Secret Service he was a friend of the president, who later called him a “troubled person.” Trump also termed the incident sad while lauding the agency’s efforts. If convicted, the man could face time in prison. Though he was not identified, a California driver’s license was found on the suspect. Secret Service also said he did not have a history of arrest. During his arraignment, the suspect was identified as 26-year-old Jonathan T. Tran from California. His family said the suspect was mentally disturbed after losing his job.

Following the incident, the security level was raised to orange, a level high enough to warrant an exhaustive search of the area around the executive residence. A security expert told CNN the intrusion shows serious security flaws.

“If someone came over the northwest fence of the Treasury complex, what that indicates is they didn’t go over just one fence, they went over multiple fences. This has the potential to be a catastrophic breach of the White House complex. This is really disturbing, just the amount of real estate that this intruder was able to gain or bypass on the complex.”

After the intruder’s arrest and removal of the backpack by a bomb disposal unit, a search on White House grounds did not reveal another threat. However, that did not stop the jibes on Twitter.

The next day, the president was ferried to his golf club in Virginia where he spoke about the incident. He also spoke about progress made on healthcare and stated ObamaCare is imploding.

[Featured Image by Mark Wilson/Getty Images]

Share this article: Trump’s White House Intruder ‘Friend’ Arrested, Twitter Picks On Obama
White House
More from Inquisitr