White House intruder arrested, detained

WASHINGTON— A California man carrying two cans of mace and a letter to U.S. President Donald Trump about “Russian hackers” scaled a White House fence Friday night and neared an entrance to the presidential mansion before he was arrested, according to a court document.

The suspect — identified as Jonathan Tuan-Anh Tran, 26 — made it near to the exterior of the White House, walked alongside the building and then hid behind a pillar before he was spotted and apprehended near the South Portico entrance.

The court document released Saturday evening omits any reference to alarms sounding and suggests that the first recognition of an intruder’s presence came when a uniformed agent saw the man, up to 180 metres from where he entered the grounds. The Secret Service declined to answer questions about how the man penetrated so deep onto the grounds, citing an ongoing investigation.

In a brief statement earlier Saturday, the agency said the intruder had breached the outer perimeter.

A District of Columbia Superior Court judge ordered Tran detained through the weekend. He was charged with entering restricted grounds while carrying a dangerous weapon.

Tran is expected to appear in Federal Court Monday. He faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted.

On the computer, the Secret Service said it found a letter addressed to Trump discussing Russian hackers and saying that Tran had “information of relevance.” The president, who was in the residence at the time of the breach, said the “Secret Service service did a fantastic job last night,” and he described the intruder as a “troubled person.”

Friday night’s breach is thought to be the first since Trump took office.