Only Secret Service members and officers are allowed to carry weapons around the president, for obvious reasons. This guy didn't get a special permission slip or anything -- quite simply, nobody bothered to check him, or even screen him prior to allowing him to chill next to the president for a few floors. If they had, they would've uncovered a guy arrested three times for violent behavior -- including once for shooting at a moving car with a 3-year-old girl inside. With that kind of past, the closest this guy should've gotten to a president was pulling some money out of his wallet.
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And there's violent offense number four.
Once the president got off, the elevator operator decided to follow him and take pictures. Now, if you were a Secret Service agent and noticed the shifty elevator guy stalking the president, you'd probably tackle him, break his phone and the hand that held it, and immediately order your fellow officers to surround the president and ensure his safety, right? Well, no, you wouldn't do that, because you're in the Secret Service and you are shockingly irresponsible. They actually just let the guy take picture after picture of their boss, presumably because he was just so excited to do it. Normal people don't tell children there's no Santa Claus; these guys don't tell weirdos with cellphones not to Instagram the president.
House Of Representatives
Yes, Virginia, there is a flattering filter.
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