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Authorities arrested a 38-year-old man near President Donald Trump’s Los Angeles-area golf course after finding ammunition on him and a loaded firearm in his vehicle ahead of Trump’s planned fundraising visit, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said Tuesday.
Jeanine John Taele of Downey, California, was arrested Sunday at Trump National Golf Club in Rancho Palos Verdes after deputies saw him walking around the grounds, taking photographs and videos and appearing to monitor security preparations.
Authorities said Taele had a 16-round magazine containing ammunition in his pocket. Deputies later found a loaded pistol and prohibited ammunition in his vehicle in the club’s parking lot.
Trump is scheduled to visit California this week for a Republican National Committee fundraising dinner.
Citing the potential security implications, detectives obtained a search warrant Monday for Taele’s home in Downey.
Investigators recovered additional firearms, ammunition, body armor, two radio signal devices and notebooks containing what the department described as “concerning statements.”
Authorities did not provide details about the statements or say whether Taele intended to target Trump or the fundraising event.
The sheriff’s department said the investigation was being conducted in close coordination with the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force and the U.S. Secret Service.
Officials said there was “no credible threat to our communities.”
Taele was charged with several offenses, including receiving a large-capacity magazine, possessing a short-barreled rifle or shotgun and carrying a concealed firearm in a vehicle.
The sheriff’s department also cited possession of armor-piercing or otherwise prohibited ammunition.
Taele pleaded not guilty to all charges. His bail was set at $250,000, and a court ordered him to stay away from the golf course and not possess weapons.
Deputies also determined that the El Segundo Police Department had been investigating Taele in connection with an earlier robbery.
Trump has faced multiple assassination attempts and threats over the past decade.
During his presidential campaign in July 2024, he survived an assassination attempt at a rally in Pennsylvania. The gunman was killed, and Trump later said the bullet came within a quarter-inch of taking his life.
In February, the Secret Service shot and killed a man who authorities said tried to unlawfully enter Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.
That same month, another man was sentenced to life in prison without parole for attempting to assassinate Trump while he played golf at his Florida country club in 2024.
In April, Cole Allen was charged with attempting to assassinate the president after gunfire was reported at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in Washington.
A Pakistani man was also convicted earlier this year of plotting to kill Trump and other prominent U.S. politicians following the 2020 U.S. killing of Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani.
In 2016, a 20-year-old British man was jailed after attempting to seize a police officer’s gun at a rally in a Las Vegas casino. He later said he had traveled to the event intending to kill Trump.
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