Hunting Stand Found Near Trump's Air Force One

President Donald Trump boarded Air Force One quickly using the small stairs due to "increased security measures" at Palm Beach International Airport on Sunday, a White House official tells Fox News.

The heightened measures at the airport follow the Secret Service discovering a suspected hunting stand Friday near the airport with a clear line of sight to Air Force One when Trump boards and departs the presidential plane.

The FBI is investigating the discovery of a suspicious hunting stand, FBI Director Kash Patel said Sunday.

Secret Service officials made the discovery last week while making "advanced security preparations" ahead of Trump's arrival in Palm Beach, which included a security sweep, per an emailed USSS statement Sunday.

"Prior to the President's return to West Palm Beach, USSS discovered what appeared to be an elevated hunting stand within sight line of the Air Force One landing zone," Patel said in a statement to Fox News.

"No individuals were located at the scene. The FBI has since taken the investigatory lead, flying in resources to collect all evidence from the scene, and deploying our cell phone analytics capabilities."

USSS spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi said the Secret Service is "working closely with the FBI and our law enforcement partners in Palm Beach County."
He added in his emailed statement: "There was no impact to any movements, and no individuals were present or involved at the location."

During Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 2024, shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire from the rooftop of a nearby building with a direct line of sight. Trump later revealed that he had been “shot with a bullet that pierced” his upper right ear.

Months later, on September 15, 2024, Ryan Wesley Routh — who was found guilty last month of attempting to assassinate Trump — was apprehended after a Secret Service agent saw the barrel of Routh’s AK-style rifle “sticking out of the bushes” where he had been hiding near Trump International Golf Course in West Palm Beach.