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.
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