Things got crazy for Ivanka Trump, the eldest daughter of President Donald Trump, and her husband, Jared Kushner, when the two tried taking a night out on the town in South Beach, Florida, on Sunday, May 4. What happened was a strange man rushed at the couple, leaving the Secret Service to intervene and clobber the potential attacker.
The incident was caught on tape by RealClearPolitics’s Susan Crabtree. A correspondent for the outlet, she caught a video of the first daughter and her husband walking to their waiting car as a crowd formed around them, which is what precipitated the shocking attack and quick Secret Service response.
In Crabtree’s video of the incident, a scraggly-dressed man obviously unknown to the couple approaches them, rushing toward them as they try to get to their car. A Secret Service agent then stiff-arms the man, pushing him back and giving Ivanka and her husband space in which they could enter the waiting vehicle.
Then, however, the unhinged and scruffy man pops back in the video, getting in a fury-filled scruffle with the agent, grabbing at him while trying to get around security and to the first daughter. Having had enough of the incident, the agent gave him a stiff blow, forcing the man down and back.
Posting about the incident on X, Crabtree noted that the agent appeared to act because the strange man was getting so close to Ivanka and Kushner, writing, “‼️‼️A Secret Service agent wasn’t taking any chances last night. It appears that the agent believed a man got too close to Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump as they were leaving an event in South Beach and aggressively pushed him away. The man then complained and appeared to grab the agent.”
Continuing, she commented on whether the agent’s handling of the man was too rough, saying, “Some Secret Service agents say this is an example of an agent getting too rough with the public, and a possible indication of worktime stress as many USSS agent details are continuing to be stretched thin with long hours, including on VP Vance’s detail.”
Crabtree went on to note that she had been pushed around by Michelle Obama’s Secret Service detail, saying, “Yet, such an aggressive push may not be that uncommon. I, too, have been pushed forcefully aside when I thought I was minding my own business. I was up in the hall near the press gallery — and the USSS agents were clearing the way for First Lady Michelle Obama to come through before a SOTU. I was shaken up a little, but understood that the agents are on high alert on nights like those.”
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She also noted that photographers, whether male or female, tend to act in a similar fashion in DC, making the incident not that notable. She wrote, “I’m also used to getting pushed and shoved from very aggressive photographers, cameramen and women on Capitol Hill and at the White House, so I sort of view it as a cost of doing business in D.C. journalism.”
Watch the incident here:
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video