A Trump club member carried a loaded Glock 43 through Secret Service screening at Trump's own golf course and no one caught it.
That failure sat buried in government files for more than a year.
Judicial Watch just got the FOIA records from that August day and what they reveal about the screening is damning.
How a Glock 43 Slipped Past the Security Checkpoint at Trump National Golf Club
On August 31, 2025, President Trump arrived at Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia at 10 a.m. to spend the day on the course with former NFL coach Jon Gruden.
A club member showed up two hours later and approached the screening checkpoint at the clubhouse entrance.
Secret Service ran a metal detector wand over him and visually searched his gym bag.
He passed and sat down for lunch on the patio, went to the pool, and changed his clothes afterward.
After changing, he opened his gym bag and found the loaded Glock 43 buried under everything else agents had just looked past.
He walked straight to a Secret Service agent at the employee entrance and reported the gun – he did it, he said, because he "cares about POTUS."
The man carrying the gun was more committed to the president's safety than the trained federal agent whose one job was to find exactly that.
The screening agent who searched the bag was immediately placed on administrative leave, and Secret Service Director Sean Curran and Deputy Director Matt Quinn traveled to Sterling personally to receive a briefing on the breach.
Trump had been on the course from 10 a.m. until 4:10 p.m. that day, with White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles also present at the club.
What the Judicial Watch FOIA Records Show About the Secret Service Security Breach
The heavily redacted FOIA records obtained by Judicial Watch confirm what the Secret Service never publicly acknowledged.
The documents confirm the member never came near Trump on the course.
Agents interviewed the member, reviewed the club surveillance footage, and verified every detail of his account.
From noon until Trump left at 4:10 p.m., a loaded gun sat on that property and Secret Service never knew it was there.
Former Secret Service special agent Richard Staropoli said when the story first broke: "Either you search it, or you don't."
A visual bag search means an agent looked inside the bag – not that he dug through wet pool clothes to find a compact 9mm pistol buried underneath.
The Glock 43 is one of the smallest carry pistols on the market, built specifically to be concealed.
The agent ran the wand, glanced inside, and waved the man through.
Secret Service Has Failed to Protect Trump at His Own Golf Courses Three Times
Sterling wasn't a fluke.
In July 2024, a shooter in Butler, Pennsylvania got close enough to fire a round that took off part of Trump's ear while he stood at a podium.
In September 2024, Ryan Wesley Routh hid in the bushes at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach with a SKS-style rifle for nearly 12 hours before an agent finally spotted him.
In August 2025, a loaded Glock walked through a manned checkpoint at Trump National Golf Club and sat undetected for more than four hours while the president played.
Trump has survived all three not because the system worked, but because none of the threats finished what they started.
Former Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan called the Sterling breach a significant breakdown.
That's the polite version.
When the only thing standing between the President of the United States and a loaded firearm is the gun owner's own loyalty – his decision to report himself because he "cares about POTUS" – Secret Service protection around that president has collapsed.
The agent had a metal detector, an open bag sitting in front of him, and still missed a loaded pistol.
It took Judicial Watch more than a year and a formal FOIA request to put these details on record – the Secret Service was never going to do it on its own.
Sources:
- "FOIA Records Detail Secret Service Failing to Detect Golfer's Gun at Trump Club," The Washington Times, October 8, 2026.
- "Glock Bypassed Secret Service Screening At Trump Golf Club, Member Says," The Daily Caller, September 2025.
- "Secret Service in 'Fact-Finding Mode' After Close Calls Reignite Questions About Trump's Protection," Washington Examiner, September 2025.
- "Two More Alarming Secret Service Failures," American Thinker, September 2025.
