The armed security guard who ended up on an elevator with President Barack Obama had not actually been convicted of a felony, as The Washington Post, which first broke the news, previously reported.
The incident happened on Sept. 16 when the man, a private security contractor with the Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention, was removed and questioned by Secret Service agents after he was on an elevator with Obama.
The Post, which had originally reported the story, said that agents asked the contractor to stop using a camera phone he had to videotape Obama. When the elevator doors opened Obama and the majority of his Secret Service detail left with Obama but a few agents remained to question the man. They found on a national database that he had prior arrests.
The Post had originally reported that the contractor was found to have been a convicted felon. He was not. The Post published a correction on its original story in addition to its new story. TPM has also amended its original writeup of the story to reflect the new information.
The contractor was fired on the spot when his supervisor found out about the incident. He was asked to hand over his gun, which he did, and which surprised the agents who didn’t know he was armed while in the elevator with Obama, according to the Post.
