Trump Assassination Fears Explode: FBI Investigating 'Suspicious' Hunting Stand With Direct Sight to Prez's Air Force One Exit at Palm Beach Airport
A hunting platform was discovered with a direct sight line to Air Force One.
Oct. 20 2025, Published 11:39 a.m. ET
The US Secret Service has launched an investigation after a "suspicious" hunting stand was discovered near Palm Beach International Airport in Florida, where President Trump often lands for weekends at his Mar-a-Lago resort, RadarOnline.com can report.
The platform was high in a tree, with a direct sight line to the spot where Air Force One was parked.
The platform was discovered high in a tree during a security sweep.
Trump, 79, traveled to Florida on Friday and spent the weekend in West Palm Beach at his lavish golf resort. The platform was discovered during a security sweep of the area on Thursday, according to FBI director Kash Patel.
"Prior to the President’s return to West Palm Beach, USSS discovered what appeared to be an elevated hunting stand within sight line of the Air Force One landing zone," Patel told Fox News Digital.
"No individuals were located at the scene. The FBI has since taken the investigatory lead, flying in resources to collect all evidence from the scene, and deploying our cell phone analytics capabilities."
A senior official familiar with the investigation told NBC News the perch is across the street from a section of the airport where private planes will often park, including the president's jet.
Air Force One does not normally park in the area, but settled there over the weekend due to recent construction nearby.
An Ongoing Investigation
Trump flew his presidential jet to Florida for the weekend.
Patel said the stand has not been connected with any one individual, and perches like the one found are often set up and left in wooded areas by bow hunters looking for a better vantage point.
The platforms can be used by individuals hunting with firearms as well. However, there is nothing to currently indicate the stand was built to target the president.
"This hunting stand was appropriately dismantled, it’s being flown to our lab," Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino told Fox News on Monday. "I believe it’s there right now, and all of the forensic tools we have – from digital tools to biometric tools – they’re all going to be applied to try to find out who put this up there and why."
Golf Course Attack
There is no indication yet that the platform was there to target the president.
The discovery comes just weeks after a Florida jury found Ryan Routh guilty on all charges related to his would-be assassination attempt on then-presidential candidate Trump in September 2024.
The panel took a mere two and a half hours to come to their verdict for the incident in which Routh, 59, lay in wait along a West Palm Beach golf course for Trump to arrive at the sixth hole he was set up near. Secret Service agents were able to spot and capture Routh before he was able to fire on the president.
Routh was found guilty of attempted assassination of a major presidential candidate, as well as assaulting the Secret Service agent who discovered him in the shrubbery near the fence line along the course on September 15, 2024.
He was also convicted of three federal gun charges after being found with an SKS-style rifle, and now faces life in prison.
Campaign Rally Attack
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An assassin nearly killed Trump in July.
And over the summer while on the campaign trail, Thomas Matthew Crooks nearly killed Trump at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13, 2024.
Crooks fired at Trump from a rooftop several buildings away, with the bullet grazing Trump's ear as he made a last-second turn of his head towards a screen.
Rally attendee Corey Comperatore was killed in the attack, while a Secret Service sniper neutralized Crooks.
