Secret Service Agent Steps In to Protect Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner From Aggressive Stranger

A tense moment unfolded in South Beach, Florida, when a plainclothes Secret Service agent stepped in to shield Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner from a man who got too close as they were leaving an event Sunday night.

The couple—daughter and son-in-law of President Donald Trump—were approaching their car when the incident occurred. Political reporter Susan Crabtree of RealClearPolitics captured the encounter on video.

As the unidentified man approached the couple, the Secret Service agent intervened by placing his arm between the man and the protectees. The situation escalated when the man grabbed the agent’s arm, prompting the agent to forcefully shove him away.

“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,” Crabtree said in a post on X, which included the video footage.

Crabtree added context to the encounter, noting that some within the Secret Service questioned whether the agent may have overreacted.

“The man then complained and appeared to grab the agent. 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,” she explained.

Crabtree also shared a personal anecdote: “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.”

She added, “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.”

This incident follows renewed scrutiny of the Secret Service, stemming from a damning report in April that exposed severe shortcomings in the agency’s security operations. The review came after the attempted assassination of then-candidate Donald Trump on July 13, 2024, during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

An independent panel tasked with investigating the attempt found a host of failures and systemic flaws within the Secret Service and issued a call for sweeping reform.

“The Secret Service as an agency requires fundamental reform to carry out its mission,” the panel wrote in a letter signed by all four members. “Without that reform, the Independent Review Panel believes another Butler can and will happen again.”

The panel dedicated its work to Corey Comperatore, who was killed during the shooting, and to James Copenhaver and David Dutch, who were injured.

“These actions will be responsive not only to the security failures that led to the July 13, 2024 assassination attempt but, importantly, to what the Independent Review Panel describes as systemic and foundational issues that underlie those failures,” the letter said.

The review cited several critical issues: a lack of clear leadership at security sites, poor decision-making, cultural complacency, and confusion over who held responsibility for security at Trump’s rally. It specifically criticized the selection process for agents involved in protective duties, stating that the detail lacked the necessary experience and failed to take full ownership of security planning.

“The events at Butler on July 13 demonstrate that, currently, it is not,” the panel concluded. “The Secret Service must be the world’s leading governmental protective organization.”

Among its recommendations: bring in outside leadership with no prior ties to the agency and re-center the Secret Service around its core protective mission.