In yet another blunder for President Barack Obama's security detail, a man posing as a congressman was able to enter a secured backstage area at an awards dinner the president attended, Bloomberg News reported.
The unnamed man claiming to be New Jersey Representative Donald Payne Jr. made his way backstage at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center as real Congress members were gathering to take pictures with Obama, who was there to deliver a speech at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation awards dinner.
"Payne" told Secret Service agents who he was, agents screened him and the poser went on through, Bloomberg News reported of the Sept. 27 incident.
It wasn't until a White House staff member noticed the man wasn't Payne that his charade was discovered, a White House official told Bloomberg News on condition of anonymity. The man was asked to leave and no incident occurred. He was never detained.
It is not known if the man entered the secured area during or after Obama's speech. Michelle Obama was in the backstage area at the time, but the White House official could not say how close the wannabe congressman got to her.
As far as the Secret Service is concerned, they said no mistake was made.
"This guy went through security, fully screened." Secret Service spokesman Brian Leary told Bloomberg News.
LaVerne Alexander, the real Payne's chief of staff, told Bloomberg News she was not aware of the incident.
Less than two weeks before the incident, the Secret Service violated protocol by allowing an armed man with an arrest record for assault ride an elevator with Obama and his security detail in an elevator at a CDC center in Atlanta.
In a more severe breach, a man armed with a knife jumped the White House fence and made it all the way to the East Room inside the mansion not long after the president left with his family on Sept. 19.
Secret Service Director Julia Pierson took responsibility for the breach at a Capitol Hill testimony on Tuesday, Fox News reported. She resigned the next day.
