A Glock handgun slipped past Secret Service screening at Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia, last week while President Donald Trump was on the course, a club member told RealClearPolitics.
The Secret Service has opened an internal probe and placed the Uniformed Division officer who screened the bag on administrative leave, RealClearPolitics reported Wednesday. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt told the outlet the agency has “opened an investigation into the incident to figure out exactly how the gun made it onto the property.” (RELATED: Liberals Promote Deranged Conspiracy Theory That Trump May Be Dying)
“How do you miss a weapon in a bag? Either you search it, or you don’t,” former Secret Service special agent Richard Staropoli told the outlet.
Secret Service snipers look on, with their equipment attached to the back of a golf cart, as US President Donald Trump enters the Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia, on August 23, 2025. (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)
The member realized the firearm was in his bag after passing through security and alerted agents, who then interviewed him, according to the outlet. Sources told RealClearPolitics the weapon never came near Trump and did not pose a threat that day.
Secret Service Director Sean M. Curran and Deputy Director Matthew C. Quinn visited the course last week to review screening procedures, RealClearPolitics reported.
The miss occurred in late August and surveillance video shows the guest never approached Trump, the New York Post separately reported.
The breach comes as the agency is already under pressure over security around Trump at golf properties. Federal prosecutors charged Ryan Wesley Routh last year after agents fired near Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, in an apparent assassination attempt; Trump was unharmed.
Leavitt did not say whether additional measures — such as walk-through magnetometers at Trump’s clubs — will now be required, RealClearPolitics reported.