An armed man arrested at President Donald Trump’s California golf club allegedly had first lady Melania Trump’s schedule and a trove of sensitive information about the Secret Service agents assigned to protect the president, prosecutors revealed Wednesday.
Jeanine John Taele, 38, possessed seven notebooks containing 208 pages of writings, drawings and sketches connected to Trump National Golf Club Los Angeles in Rancho Palos Verdes, according to reports.
The material included copies of Melania Trump’s schedule, lists of Secret Service schedules and details about individual security personnel, prosecutors said during a Los Angeles County court hearing.
Taele’s writings also contained detailed lists about surviving “off the grid,” The Associated Press reported.
Los Angeles County Judge John Lonergan Jr. called the allegations “alarming” during Wednesday’s hearing.
“This case itself is alarming in this day and age with the violence that is creeping into our everyday lives, especially with our partisanship in the political environment” ahead of the midterms, Lonergan said, according to the AP.
The disturbing revelations surfaced weeks after plainclothes federal agents allegedly spotted Taele walking the golf club grounds on Aug. 2.
Authorities said he was taking photographs and videos and appeared to be monitoring security-planning activities ahead of Trump’s visit.
Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies detained Taele and allegedly discovered a 16-round magazine loaded with hollow-point ammunition in his pants pocket.
A search of his vehicle turned up a loaded pistol with a round in the chamber and another magazine containing hollow-point ammunition, according to authorities.
NEW: Disturbing new details emerge from notebooks allegedly belonging to Jeanine John Taele, the armed suspect arrested at President Trump’s Los Angeles golf course.@MikeEmanuelFox reports that the 208 pages include the first lady’s schedule, Secret Service schedules, details… pic.twitter.com/wZxB2U6GMp
— Fox News (@FoxNews) August 27, 2026
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Taele allegedly claimed he worked for the State Department and was at the golf course as part of a security detail.
Investigators later searched his Downey home and recovered an illegally modified AR-platform rifle, a .45-caliber pistol, body armor, high-capacity magazines, bulk ammunition and radio signal devices.
Authorities also seized multiple notebooks containing what investigators previously described as “concerning statements.”
The FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force, the Secret Service and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department are investigating the case.
Lonergan suspended the criminal proceedings after a pretrial evaluation found Taele mentally unfit to stand trial. The case was transferred to a mental health court, according to the AP.
Taele, a Marine veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, will remain jailed until a Sept. 9 hearing at Hollywood Mental Health Court.
His public defender, A.J. Bayne, urged the public not to rush to judgment about his client’s intentions.
“He’s a veteran, he served our country, and I don’t know enough right now, but he has a family that loves him, that has huge support for him,” Bayne told the AP, adding that “people assume too much” about Taele’s motives.
The Secret Service previously declined to discuss the specifics of the investigation but said it “thoroughly investigates any information or activity that may reasonably be perceived as a protective intelligence concern or indicate a potential threat or directed interest toward any individual under Secret Service protection.”
Trump addressed the arrest earlier this month.
“Well, the only thing I get a little solace from is, they say only consequential presidents. And I am definitely consequential,” Trump said during an appearance on “Fox News @ Night.”
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