Presidential security has faced intense scrutiny since multiple threats and plots targeting Donald Trump over the past two years. That focus narrowed to Southern California on Sunday, August 2, when deputies and federal agents arrested a man at Trump National Golf Club Los Angeles in Rancho Palos Verdes. Authorities said he appeared to be photographing the property and monitoring security activity before the president’s planned fundraiser there.
Authorities say deputies arrested a man after finding ammunition, a pistol and a fake badge
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said deputies assigned to Lomita Station responded to Trump National Golf Club Los Angeles at about 3:28 p.m. on Sunday, August 2, after plainclothes federal agents reported a suspicious person on the property. According to the department, the man was seen walking the grounds, taking photos and video, and appearing to monitor security-planning activity ahead of President Donald Trump’s Tuesday visit. AP, citing authorities, identified the man as 38 years old and from Downey.
Deputies contacted the man in the parking lot and found a 16-round magazine and ammunition in his pocket, according to the sheriff’s department account reported by AP. A search of his pickup truck then turned up a loaded 9mm pistol, binoculars and a badge reading “security protection agent,” according to the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles as quoted by AP. The man was arrested on suspicion of carrying a concealed firearm and possessing prohibited ammunition, authorities said.
Investigators searched his Downey home on Monday and found a rifle, additional firearms, magazines, ammunition, body armor and notebooks containing what federal authorities described as “concerning statements,” AP reported. The sheriff’s department said Tuesday there was “no credible threat to our communities,” while also confirming that federal partners were involved in the investigation. As of Tuesday night, public reporting had not shown any announced federal charge tied to a threat against the president.
The incident unfolded at Trump National Golf Club Los Angeles, the oceanfront course in Rancho Palos Verdes that was preparing to host a presidential fundraiser on Tuesday evening. That local setting matters because the sheriff’s department said the suspect was detained on the property itself, not at an off-site checkpoint or nearby street. The case therefore immediately raised questions about how security perimeters were being managed in the South Bay before a presidential visit.
What is confirmed is that plainclothes federal agents first noticed the man and that Los Angeles County deputies made the arrest, according to the sheriff’s department statement carried by AP. What is not yet known is how long the man had been on the property, whether he had entered restricted areas, or whether he had any verified connection to event staff or private security. Authorities also have not released a full public inventory of every item seized from the home search.
The arrest follows another high-profile weapons case near the same golf club earlier in 2026, when Los Angeles-area authorities arrested an armed man near the Rancho Palos Verdes property, according to reporting by the Los Angeles Times. That earlier case involved different facts and a different suspect, but together the incidents underscore how the club has become a repeated focus of security attention when Trump is in California. Local residents largely encountered the immediate impact through heightened law enforcement activity around the property and its approaches.
The broader context is a presidential security environment already shaped by recent attacks and attempted attacks tied to Trump appearances and properties. AP noted that last year a jury found a man guilty in the Florida case involving an attempt to assassinate Trump at his West Palm Beach golf club. The Justice Department previously said that case began when a Secret Service agent saw what appeared to be a rifle protruding from the tree line near the course perimeter.
That history helps explain why authorities moved quickly when federal agents spotted someone appearing to document security preparations in Rancho Palos Verdes. The U.S. attorney’s office and sheriff’s department have so far described the California arrest as a firearms and security investigation, not as a charged assassination plot. Public officials have not said that the suspect fired a weapon, confronted agents or breached Trump’s protective detail.
For residents and people traveling near the club, the practical takeaway is that security around presidential visits to the property is likely to remain visible and multilayered. Authorities have confirmed the suspect was in custody and said there was no credible threat to the broader community, while the investigation continued Tuesday. Any additional charges, motive details or court filings are expected to come through federal prosecutors or Los Angeles County authorities on the record.