FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino said Monday that FBI Director Kash Patel ordered an “immediate response” following Sunday’s discovery of a hunting stand near Air Force One at Palm Beach International Airport.
The hunting stand, which had a direct line of sight to Air Force One, was discovered Sunday before President Donald Trump’s arrival for a return flight to Washington, D.C., following a weekend at Mar-a-Lago. Bongino told “Fox and Friends” co-hosts Ainsley Earhardt, Lawrence Jones and Brian Kilmeade that the stand was found during a security sweep due to modifications made after recent assassinations and assassination attempts.
“The Secret Service has had to make a lot of modifications, Lawrence, given that this tool was obviously used or attempted to use multiple times,” Bongino said after Jones expressed concerns about snipers. “They’ve expanded their security perimeter.”
WATCH:
Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk was assassinated by a gunman who fired a rifle from a rooftop during a “Prove Me Wrong” event at Utah Valley University Sept. 10, while in the midst of a question-and-answer session with attendees. Trump survived a similar attack during a July 13, 2024, campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
“I am very close friends with the director over there and some of those modifications have been made and I think you saw the modifications with the discovery of this hunting stand set up in a tree,” Bongino said.
Earlier, Bongino said the FBI was involved after the stand’s discovery, and that it had been “dismantled” and flown to the agency’s laboratory to recover forensic evidence.
“Let me walk the American public through how this works. The FBI is not responsible for, obviously, the security plan fo the president. That is the purview of the Secret Service,” Bongino said. “However, if the Secret Service finds something they believe could be critical, I want to emphasize could be, we take over. We have what is called a MOU, a memorandum of understanding with the Secret Service where we will investigate after that.”
“I was on the phone yesterday back and forth with the D2, Deputy Director of the Secret Service Matt Quinn, great guy,” Bongino continued. “They were very concerned, their security sweep discovered this hunting stand. The director, Kash Patel, was directly involved right away, I’m on the email chain with him. He ordered an immediate response, I believe we had our plane flown down there. This hunting stand was appropriately dismantled and flown to our lab, I believe it’s there right now, and all forensic tools from digital tools to biometric tools will be applied to find out who put this up and why.”
During Saturday’s “No Kings” protests, some demonstrators wished for Trump’s death or said they wanted to kill senior officials or United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.
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