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Suspect identified after fatal shooting at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate: officials

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Suspect identified after fatal shooting at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate: officials

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A man was shot and killed early Sunday after allegedly breaching the secure perimeter of President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, the U.S. Secret Service said.

The incident occurred around 1:30 a.m. when the suspect made an “unauthorized entry” through the north gate of the resort as another vehicle was exiting. The man has been identified as 21-year-old Austin Tucker Martin of North Carolina, Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw confirmed to Fox News.

The suspect was observed carrying what appeared to be a shotgun and a fuel can. Agents and a deputy from the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office (PBSO) confronted him.

“They confronted a white male that was carrying a gas can and a shotgun. He was ordered to drop those two pieces of equipment that he had with him – at which time he put down the gas can, raised the shotgun to a shooting position,” Bradshaw told reporters. “At that point in time, the deputy and the two Secret Service agents fired their weapons and neutralized the threat.”

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SECRET SERVICE THWARTS POTENTIAL THREAT NEAR TRUMP’S WHITE HOUSE GROUNDS WITH RAPID RESPONSE

An aerial view shows the Mar-a-Lago estate and the north gate in Palm Beach, Florida, following reports of a shooting incident, Feb. 22, 2026. (Fox News)

Bradshaw said the suspect did not exchange any words with law enforcement officers who instructed the man to “drop the items.” 

The man was pronounced dead at the scene.

No Secret Service or PBSO personnel were injured, and no Secret Service protectees were present at the location during the time of the incident, officials said. 

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Trump was at the White House at the time of the breach, even though he frequently spends weekends at Mar-a-Lago, according to The Associated Press.

Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said the man is believed to have bought the shotgun while traveling south, and authorities later discovered the weapon’s box inside his vehicle, The Associated Press reported.

The Moore County Sheriff’s Office said in a press release that a relative reported Martin missing around 1:38 a.m. Sunday.

He was entered into a national missing person database before federal authorities informed local officials they were conducting an active investigation in Florida related to Martin.

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A moving truck is parked outside Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., on Jan. 18, 2021. (Terry Renna/AP)

The sheriff’s office said it had no prior history with the 21-year-old and has since turned over the missing person case information to federal authorities. It is not involved in the Florida investigation.

The incident, including the suspect’s background, actions and potential motive, as well as the circumstances surrounding the use of force, are under investigation by the FBI, the U.S. Secret Service, and the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office.

Officials said they are working to compile a psychological profile as part of the investigation, according to The Associated Press.

FBI Miami Special Agent in Charge Brett Skiles said the bureau is assisting in the investigation because the shooting occurred in an area under Secret Service protection.

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He said the FBI’s evidence response team is processing the scene and collecting evidence, and urged residents who live nearby to review their exterior cameras for footage from Saturday night into early Saturday morning. 

“If you see anything that looks suspicious or out of place, please contact us,” he told reporters.

The man who was shot and killed after allegedly breaching the secure perimeter at President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, was observed carrying what appeared to be a shotgun and a fuel can. (@PBCountySheriff via X)

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FBI Director Kash Patel said in a post on X that his agency is “dedicating all necessary resources in the investigation of this morning’s incident,” and “will continue working closely with @SecretService as well [as] our state and federal partners and will provide updates as we are able.”

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White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt wrote on X that the U.S. Secret Service “acted quickly and decisively to neutralize a crazy person, armed with a gun and a gas canister, who intruded President Trump’s home.”

The breach comes after Trump faced two assassination attempts during his 2024 campaign.

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Biden special counsel’s ‘runaway train’ scooped up sensitive lawmaker info: ‘Abuse of power’

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Biden special counsel’s ‘runaway train’ scooped up sensitive lawmaker info: ‘Abuse of power’

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Former special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into President Donald Trump swept up text messages from nearly 50 members of Congress, bypassing a required review process in what one victim alleged is a direct constitutional violation.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, said the situation is more proof Smith’s probe was a “runaway train” of abuses of power, and the elder statesman and Senate Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Ron Johnson, R-Wis., jointly released their filings Tuesday evening.

Grassley and Johnson’s findings were from a full-scale probe of Operation Arctic Frost, the code name for Smith’s endeavor to investigate Trump for alleged corruption and election malfeasance, an operation top Senate Republicans call “worse than Watergate.”

LEGAL WAR ON TRUMP’S AGENDA GAINS FIREPOWER AS FEDERAL LAWYERS DEFECT TO DEMOCRATS

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Jack Smith, former U.S. special counsel, arrives for a closed-door deposition before the House Judiciary Committee in Washington, D.C., Dec. 17, 2025. (Getty Images)

Forty-four members of Congress had the contents of their text messages obtained and reviewed by Smith’s team in a way that bypassed protocol. A “filter team” was tasked with reviewing millions of documents in the case and should have had first crack at determining whether such messages were relevant or potentially violated statute or ethics.

Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., one of the lawmakers whose texts were swept up in this way, said Tuesday such reviews amounted to clear violations of the Constitution’s speech and debate clause that protects lawmakers from being questioned in “any other place” than the Capitol for legislative acts.

Internal communications have been historically included in that clause in the courts as technology has advanced.

SUPREME COURT JUSTICES HEAD TO CAPITOL HILL FOR FIRST CONGRESSIONAL APPEARANCE SINCE 2019

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Stefanik said in a statement that the new records prove Smith’s team “unlawfully and unconstitutionally accessed my private text messages, along with 43 other Members of Congress, in clear violation of the Constitution.”

She said she long suspected there had been “unconstitutional spy[ing] on members of Congress.”

The records were provided by the Trump Justice Department to Grassley and Johnson, which the chairmen said indicated Smith’s team had “circumvented its own filter review process.” The process is additionally meant to protect attorney-client privilege, they said in a statement.

OBAMA-APPOINTED JUDGE TORCHES TRUMP ADMIN IN LATEST COURTROOM SHOWDOWN, REFERS ATTORNEY FOR BAR REVIEW

Former special counsel Jack Smith says the Pledge of Allegiance before he prepares to testify during a hearing before the House Judiciary Committee in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill Jan. 22, 2026, in Washington, D.C. (Al Drago/Getty Images)

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The news also complicated some of Smith’s prior depositions under oath, including an excerpt in which he answered “no” to a question from a congressional counsel whether records he requested from congresspeople included text messages.

Johnson called the situation a “grotesque example” of Biden-era “weaponization” of the executive branch.

“Jack Smith’s criminal investigation of President Trump was a runaway train that had no brakes,” Grassley added Tuesday.

“Based on the information that’s been produced to me and Senator Johnson, Biden DOJ and FBI investigators apparently ignored their own routine investigative protocols to obtain and review work-related messages from me and dozens of my Republican and Democrat colleagues who were outside the scope of the government’s investigation.”

Grassley added that he hopes Democrats caught up in the otherwise bipartisan text tranche will finally discard their partisanship and recognize the severity of the alleged violations by Smith.

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He also indicated he planned to recall Smith before Congress to “hold him accountable.”

Of the 44 members swept up in the text reviews, several were Democrats, including Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., and the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, Rep. Adam Smith of Washington.

Grassley, Johnson and Stefanik were also swept up in the situation, along with top figures like senators Mike Lee, R-Utah; Josh Hawley, R-Mo.; Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska; Rand Paul, R-Ky., former Senate Republican Conference Chairman Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn.; and the late Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.

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Former House Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., was one of the victims, along with current House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, as well as House Freedom Caucus member Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin of New York, Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins of Georgi, and prominent Trump critic Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky.

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Several lawmakers sounded off on the news soon after Grassley announced his findings, including Hawley, who called for “everyone involved [to] be prosecuted.”

“Joe Biden’s DOJ not only tapped my phone; I just learned they illegally obtained my texts with members of President Trump’s administration,” the Missourian fumed.

Paul called the allegations a “blatant abuse of power and exactly what our Founders warned about,” while citing Smith’s past denial under oath.

Fox News Digital reached out to a representative for Smith for comment.

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After lawsuit, ICE pauses construction of Bay Area detention facility

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After lawsuit, ICE pauses construction of Bay Area detention facility

The federal government agreed to temporarily hold off on construction of a planned Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Northern California.

The voluntary pause until Sept. 9 comes after the California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta and Santa Clara County officials sued the Trump administration last month to block the facility from being developed near Gilroy. The lawsuit remains ongoing.

“This pause in the construction, demolition, and development at the site of the challenged ICE facility is a significant step towards protecting our people, our communities, and our environment while the case remains ongoing,” Bonta said in a statement Monday night.

The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.

State and local officials believe the facility will be used for short-term detention of up to 150 people at a time, though ICE denied that it would be a detention center.

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Community members and advocates for immigrants swiftly opposed the project. ICE has consistently looked to increase its detention capacity in California, where eight detention centers can now hold a combined 9,000 people, though the state has long been a thorn in the agency’s side.

The halt is part of a compromise between both sides involved in the legal action. After the state and county submitted a request for the court to temporarily halt the project, a hearing was set for Oct. 7.

Now, state and federal officials jointly requested that the court move up the hearing by at least a month. The agreement also extends how much time the federal government has to respond.

A federal judge signed off on the agreement Monday night.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in San José, alleges that the leased land is zoned exclusively for agricultural use and that the federal government violated laws requiring state and county notification, as well as procedural steps before beginning construction.

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Why Supreme Court Justices Are Asking for More Security

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Supreme Court justices are asking lawmakers on Capitol Hill to increase their 2027 budget, with most of the additional funding earmarked for security. Ann E. Marimow, a New York Times reporter, explains why the justices say these measures are necessary to protect them from rising threats.

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