Image of hunting stand circulated by the Secret Service showed it was in a tree, near president\u2019s Mar-a-Lago estate<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Federal agents are investigating after saying they found a hunting stand within sight of where Donald Trump<\/a> typically exits Air Force One prior to a recent trip to West Palm Beach, Florida, by the president.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The US Secret Service<\/a> said it made the discovery while conducting technological and physical security sweeps around the airport in West Palm Beach, where Trump\u2019s Mar-a-Lago estate is, in advance of the president traveling there on Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A statement to the news media from Anthony Guglielmi, the Secret Service<\/a> spokesperson, said agents did not spot anyone near the hunting stand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kash Patel separately provided a statement reported by Fox News<\/a> which described the hunting stand as being \u201celevated\u201d and \u201cwithin sight line of the Air Force One landing zone\u201d. An image of it circulated by the Secret Service showed it was in a tree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Trump-appointed FBI director\u2019s statement added that his agency has \u201csince taken the investigatory lead, flying in resources to collect all evidence from the scene and deploying our cell phone analytics capabilities\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Guglielmi\u2019s statement said finding the hunting stand did not affect any of the president\u2019s movements. Nonetheless, in trying to determine more about it, the Secret Service was \u201cworking closely\u201d with both the FBI and local law enforcement in the West Palm Beach area, Guglielmi\u2019s statement said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The hunting stand in question was reported about a month after a state jury in Florida convicted<\/a> Ryan Routh, 59, of trying to assassinate Trump on his West Palm Beach golf course two months before clinching his second presidency in the 2024 White House election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A Secret Service agent spotted Routh with a rifle hiding in bushes as Trump\u2019s golfing party approached on 15 September 2024. The agent fired on Routh, who initially fled but was later captured driving north.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Meanwhile, on 13 July 2024, Trump narrowly survived an attempted assassination at a rally<\/a> in Butler, Pennsylvania. In the earlier case, Thomas Crooks, 20, fired eight shots at Trump, with one bullet grazing his ear, officials have said. Officials said Crooks also killed one spectator while wounding two others before being shot to death by Secret Service counter-snipers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The cases involving Routh and Crooks have often been mentioned alongside several other instances of political violence just prior to and during Trump\u2019s second presidency, which began in January.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The home of Josh Shapiro, the Pennsylvania Democratic governor, was firebombed in April, with the arsonist pleading guilty<\/a> on 14 October. In June, related shootings killed Minnesota\u2019s former House speaker, Melissa Hortman<\/a>, and her husband, Mark, while wounding John Hoffman \u2013 her fellow Democrat, a state senator \u2013 and his wife, Yvette.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And in September, conservative political activist Charlie Kirk was shot to death<\/a> while speaking at Utah Valley University.<\/p>\n\n\n\n