A man arrested days before President Trump's visit to his California golf club allegedly carried 200-plus pages of notes on the first lady's schedule and Secret Service operations. A judge called the case 'alarming' and sent it to mental health court.
A heavily armed man arrested days before President Donald Trump's visit to his California golf club allegedly carried more than 200 pages of notes on the first lady's schedule and Secret Service operations, according to evidence revealed in court Wednesday. The case has now been sent to mental health court after a judge ruled the suspect unfit to stand trial.
Jeanine John Taele, 38, a Marine Corps veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, pleaded not guilty to four criminal charges stemming from his arrest outside Trump National Golf Club Los Angeles in Rancho Palos Verdes. Authorities say federal agents spotted him on the grounds days before the president's scheduled visit, taking photographs and video while appearing to monitor security planning.
Prosecutors said Taele had seven notebooks containing 208 pages of writings, including schedules for first lady Melania Trump, lists of Secret Service assignments, and detailed information about individual security personnel. The notebooks also included drawings and sketches of the golf club and detailed lists about surviving "off the grid," according to the Associated Press.
The revelation that a suspect in federal custody was tracking the movements of the first lady and the president's protective detail underscored the severity of the threat agents disrupted before Trump ever set foot on the course.
Taele was taken into custody after plainclothes federal agents observed him walking the grounds of the club. Deputies said they found a 16-round magazine loaded with hollow-point ammunition in his pants pocket. A search of his vehicle turned up a loaded pistol with a round in the chamber and another magazine of hollow-point ammunition.
Investigators later searched Taele's home in Downey and recovered an illegally modified AR-platform rifle, a .45-caliber pistol, body armor, high-capacity magazines, bulk ammunition, and radio signal devices. He initially claimed he worked for the State Department and was at the course for a security detail.
The FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force, the Secret Service, and the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department have all been involved in the investigation.
Los Angeles County Judge John Lonergan Jr. called the allegations "alarming" during Wednesday's hearing. "This case itself is alarming in this day and age with the violence that is creeping into our everyday lives, especially with our partisanship in the political environment," he said ahead of the midterms.
The judge suspended criminal proceedings after a pretrial evaluation indicated Taele was not mentally fit to stand trial. The case was transferred to mental health court, and Taele will remain jailed until a Sept. 9 hearing at Hollywood Mental Health Court.
Taele's public defender, A.J. Bayne, cautioned against jumping to conclusions about his client's motives. "He's a veteran, he served our country, and I don't know enough right now, but he has a family that loves him, that has huge support for him," Bayne said, adding that "people assume too much."
The Secret Service said it does not comment on specific protective intelligence matters but "thoroughly investigates any information or activity that may reasonably be perceived as a protective intelligence concern."
Trump addressed the arrest shortly after it happened, offering his own take on the spotlight that comes with the office. "Well, the only thing I get a little solace from is, they say only consequential presidents. And I am definitely consequential," he said.
For now, the bottom line is simple: a potential threat was identified, intercepted, and taken off the street before the president arrived -- exactly how the system is supposed to work. The Sept. 9 hearing will determine what comes next for Taele, while federal investigators continue digging into the notebooks that raised so many alarms.
A man arrested days before President Trump's visit to his California golf club allegedly carried 200-plus pages of notes on the first lady's schedule and Secret Service operations. A judge called the case 'alarming' and sent it to mental health court.
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