The Secret Service temporarily locked down the White House on Tuesday morning after an unidentified object was reportedly thrown over the North Lawn fence, prompting a swift security response just an hour before President Donald Trump was scheduled to depart for an event in Pittsburgh.
According to a source close to the situation, the object was seen being tossed over the northern perimeter fence, triggering immediate action. Secret Service agents locked down the White House grounds and surrounding areas, including Lafayette Park and a section of Pennsylvania Avenue. Members of the press were quickly ushered into the James S. Brady Briefing Room at approximately 11:30 a.m. ET, with no initial explanation given.
Roughly 30 minutes later, an all-clear order was issued and media personnel were allowed to return to the North Lawn. As of Tuesday afternoon, the White House has not released any additional details on what was thrown or whether the incident posed any threat.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon was forced to cut short a live interview due to the security response and was escorted back inside the building.
This morning’s incident is the latest in a growing list of security challenges faced by the Secret Service over the past year. In March, a young child slipped through the north fence and briefly breached the perimeter before agents quickly intervened and returned him to his parents.
Tuesday’s lockdown comes just days after the one-year anniversary of the assassination attempt on then-candidate Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. That shooting, which left the president with a wounded ear and killed firefighter Corey Comperatore, has raised persistent concerns about presidential security and the agency’s preparedness.
In the year since, security around President Trump has been significantly increased, particularly after a second incident occurred just weeks later at his Florida golf club.
However, major questions remain unanswered, particularly surrounding how 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks was able to carry out the Butler attack. No motive has been publicly confirmed, and the investigation has been criticized for a lack of transparency.
On Sunday, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, released his final report on the Butler investigation. The report outlines what Paul calls a “disturbing pattern of denials, mismanagement, and missed warning signs” by the Secret Service and federal agencies leading up to the attack.
“What happened in Butler, Pennsylvania, was not just a tragedy—it was a scandal,” Paul said. “The United States Secret Service failed to act on credible intelligence, failed to coordinate with local law enforcement, and failed to prevent an attack that nearly took the life of a then-former president.”
Paul emphasized that, despite the failures, “no one has been fired.”
