'Elevated hunting stand' discovered same day Trump landed in Palm Beach, FBI says

Grethel Aguila and Jay Weaver, Miami Herald on Oct 21, 2025

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MIAMI — The “suspicious stand” that the Secret Service found in direct eyesight of the Air Force One landing zone at Palm Beach International Airport was an “elevated hunting stand,” FBI Director Kash Patel confirmed in a statement Monday morning.

Patel also confirmed that agents found the stand Friday, before President Donald Trump landed in West Palm Beach for a weekend visit to his mansion Mar-a-Lago.

According to Fox News, the stand was set up months ago.

“The FBI has since taken the investigatory lead — flying in resources to collect all evidence from the scene, and deploying our cell phone analytics capabilities,” Patel said in the statement. “We are working with our DOJ partners on service of any legal process required and will provide updates when able.”

The stand was dismantled and is being flown to an FBI lab, FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino told Fox News Monday.

A White House official told the Herald/McClatchy News that when Trump boarded Air Force One Sunday to head back to Washington, he went into the plane using lower steps that lead into its belly due to elevated safety measures.

In a statement Sunday, Secret Service Chief of Communications Anthony Guglielmi said agents discovered the stand during “security preparations” before Air Force One landed on Friday. “Items of interest” were found in the area, although the Secret Service did not identify or release details about the items.

The agency is working with the FBI and law enforcement in Palm Beach, he said. The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office didn’t respond to the Herald’s inquiries. A spokesperson for the airport told the Herald Monday morning that the airport was informed of the incident but wasn’t provided specifics.

“There was no impact to any movements, and no individuals were present or involved at the location,” Guglielmi said in the statement. “While we are not able to provide details about the specific items or their intent, this incident underscores the importance of our layered security measures.”

The FBI’s investigation closed all lanes of Southern Boulevard between Congress Avenue and Military Trail on Saturday. The roadways were reopened Sunday evening.

Incident at Trump’s West Palm Beach golf club

This is not the first time federal agents had security concerns in Palm Beach County.

Last year, Ryan Wesley Routh was arrested after, agents say, he tried to kill Trump at his West Palm Beach golf course. A Secret Service agent was doing a security sweep of the sixth hole at the Trump International Golf Club as the presidential candidate played there on Sept. 15, 2024, when he spotted Routh and the barrel of a rifle protruding through a bush-obscured fence.

Routh was convicted by a jury in September.

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Miami Herald/McClatchy News staff writer Emily Goodin contributed to this report from Washington D.C.

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