Donald Trump’s team is still reeling from a confrontation last month when protesters came within feet of the president while he dined at a restaurant near the White House, according to a report.
Weeks after Trump initiated his federal takeover of the nation’s capital, protesters with the grassroots organization Code Pink crashed his dinner plans at Joe’s Seafood on September 9, chanting: “Free D.C.! Free Palestine! Trump is the Hitler of our time!”
The president initially looked unfazed by the confrontation but then gestured to his security team and urged: “Get them out of here.” The White House similarly downplayed the incident, posting other footage at the restaurant and writing on X that the president was “greeted with cheers as he dines in D.C.”
Internally, the president’s team is still alarmed by the incident, Axios reported.
Following the incident, Susie Wiles, Trump’s chief of staff, allegedly called Secret Service leaders into her office, telling them it was “unacceptable” that protesters got so close to the president and warned that such a thing couldn't happen again.
The Independent has contacted the White House for comment.
Suspicions linger as to how protesters knew Trump would be at the restaurant — especially after he survived the assassination attempt while speaking at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July 2024.
Other security concerns have cropped up more recently. Last week FBI Director Kash Patel revealed the bureau was investigating a “suspicious stand” spotted with direct line of sight to the area where Trump exits Air Force One at Palm Beach International Airport in Florida.
Code Pink’s D.C. organizer Olivia DiNucci told The Daily Beast last month that the group merely made a reservation to gain access to the restaurant.
“We actually had a reservation, and got it pretty last minute, and went in,” she said. “We thought it was just going to be Trump, we didn’t know it was all of his Cabinet, and we didn’t think they would be in such an open room — we thought he’d be in a different area — and we were placed really close to them.”
The Independent has contacted Code Pink for more information.
A Secret Service spokesperson told The Independent in a statement: "All restaurant guests were screened prior to the president's arrival, including the protesters who had made a reservation to gain access."
"The situation inside the restaurant was quickly resolved by Secret Service personnel who were actively engaged in ensuring the president's safety, and the dinner continued without further incident," the spokesperson added. “The safety and security of the President remains our highest priority.”
At the time, several figures in MAGA world questioned the diligence of the Secret Service and whether someone had tipped off the president’s location.
Florida GOP Rep. Anna Paulina Luna wrote a flurry of questions on X: “Did someone leak the President’s location to the organization that showed up to protest him? Was this code pink? How are they allowed that close to him?” She continued: “Where was Secret Service and was there someone in Secret Service that leaked his location? This needs to be looked into.”
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