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A member of the US Secret Service was robbed at gunpoint in California on Saturday evening during President Joe Biden’s high-profile fundraiser. Scripps News reported Monday that Tustin Police Department officers responded to a call and discovered the victim was a Secret Service member who fired his own gun during the robbery.
It is unclear whether the perpetrator was injured and on Monday afternoon, Tustin, California police said they were still investigating the incident. Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi confirmed to Scripps that a member of the U.S. Secret Service was the victim of the robbery. “The employee fired his service weapon during the incident, but it is unknown if the attackers were hit,” Guglielmi said. “We are grateful that the employee did not sustain any injuries,” he added.
Some of the secret service officer’s belongings have now been found. The robber escaped in a silver Infiniti, with Tustin police including a photo of the vehicle while appealing for tips from the public.
It was not immediately clear whether the Secret Service employee was tasked with protecting Biden during the trip to Los Angeles. Biden returned to his hotel shortly before 9 p.m. on Saturday. Tustin is in nearby Orange County, California – and police responded to the call at 9:36 p.m.
Biden flew straight from the G7 in Italy to appear at the fundraiser in California on Saturday evening with movie stars George Clooney and Julia Roberts, comedian Jimmy Kimmel and former President Barack Obama. He returned to Washington on Sunday evening. The good news for the Biden campaign is that the fundraiser raised more than $30 million for the Democrat in his re-election campaign against former President Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee.
However, on Monday there were questions about a viral video in which the 81-year-old president appeared to freeze on stage – led away by Obama. During Monday’s news conference, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre complained about several recent viral videos that conservatives have hyped online, including one of Biden leaving the fundraiser in California.
She called them “cheap fakes.” “They were done in bad faith,” she chided. “Let’s not forget: President Obama and President Biden are in a relationship. They are friends. They are like family. And I think you saw that,” she said, when asked by DailyMail.com.
Jean-Pierre (photo) also referred to a statement from the former president’s office. Obama’s office released a statement. So I refer you to that statement as to what was accused therein by others. And he said this didn’t happen in the sense of what people said, said they saw, right? Or what was falsely reported and what they saw,” the press secretary continued.
The White House confirmed that she was referring to a four-word post from Obama spokesman Eric Shultz, who said: “This did not happen. You saw the president put his hand behind President Biden’s back and they walked off stage. After answering questions. Or answer questions from Jimmy Kimmel during an event. That’s what you saw,” Jean-Pierre said.
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