In yet another apparent security lapse by the Secret Service, it has now been revealed that a man falsely posing as a member of Congress made his way into a secure area at an event where President Obama appeared just last Saturday, an anonymous White House official has told Bloomberg.
The impostor said that he was Rep. Donald Payne Jr. (D-N.J.) at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation awards dinner. He got into the backstage area, either during or just after Obama's speech, as the members of Congress were lining up to have their pictures taken with the president. After a member of the White House staff realized that he was in fact not the real Rep. Payne, the man was asked to leave.
A spokesman for the Secret Service defended the agency's performance in this matter: "This guy went through security, fully screened." All attendees at the dinner indeed had to get through security, but this might not be the greatest consolation.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Pentagon unable to name boat strike casualtiesSpeed Read The Pentagon has so far acknowledged 14 strikes
-
41 political cartoons for October 2025Cartoons Editorial cartoonists take on Donald Trump, ICE, Stephen Miller, the government shutdown, a peace plan in the Middle East, Jeffrey Epstein, and more.
-
King Charles strips Andrew of ‘prince’ titleSpeed Read He will now be known only as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor
-
Senate votes to kill Trump’s Brazil tariffSpeed Read Five Senate Republicans joined the Democrats in rebuking Trump’s import tax
-
Border Patrol gets scrutiny in court, gains power in ICESpeed Read Half of the new ICE directors are reportedly from DHS’s more aggressive Customs and Border Protection branch
-
Shutdown stalemate nears key pain pointsSpeed Read A federal employee union called for the Democrats to to stand down four weeks into the government standoff
-
Trump vows new tariffs on Canada over Reagan adspeed read The ad that offended the president has Ronald Reagan explaining why import taxes hurt the economy
-
NY attorney general asks public for ICE raid footageSpeed Read Rep. Dan Goldman claims ICE wrongly detained four US citizens in the Canal Street raid and held them for a whole day without charges
-
Trump’s huge ballroom to replace razed East WingSpeed Read The White House’s east wing is being torn down amid ballroom construction
-
Trump expands boat strikes to Pacific, killing 5 moreSpeed Read The US military destroyed two more alleged drug smuggling boats in international waters
-
Trump demands millions from his administrationSpeed Read The president has requested $230 million in compensation from the Justice Department for previous federal investigations
