Armed Secret Service Agent Turns Away Process Server Attempting to Reach Trump at Mar-a-Lago in Jan. 6 Case
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A suspect in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot tried to serve former President Donald Trump for a deposition in his case, but an armed Secret Service agent turned a process server away, according to a legal filing.
POLITICO reporter Kyle Cheney shared a court document wherein a defendant complained of the inability to serve Trump with legal paperwork.
“A Jan. 6 defendant attempting to subpoena Donald Trump for a deposition had his process server turned away at Mar-a-Lago by an armed person he believes to be a Secret Service agent,” Cheney reported.
A legal document shared by Cheney explained a defendant hired a private process server to get a presumed summons to Trump. The private server was hired, as the U.S. Marshals Service either could not or would not deliver the paperwork for him.
A document explained that in January, a defendant referred to as Mr. Thompson complained of the inability to reach people in a case.
“Mr. Thompson referenced a history of evasiveness displayed by several of the potential witnesses and the difficulties he anticipated would arise should private service a process be utilized,” the document reads. It adds,
In the absence of law enforcement assistance, Defendant retained a private process service company to serve the aforementioned subpoenas. On April 1, 2022, while attempting to lawfully serve former President Donald J. Trump at the Mar-a-Lago Club, one of Mr. Thompson’s private process servers was turned away an armed individual.
According to the return of service submitted to Counsel, the process server believed this individual to be a government employee specifically an agent of the United States Secret Service. Defense Counsel’s attempts to obtain more information regarding this interaction have thus far been unsuccessful; however, it is Defendant’s intention to supplement this Motion once Counsel has spoken to the process server directly. Regardless of the identity of the armed security agent, Defendant’s concerns are no longer speculative.
The defendant in the case submitted he he had “no meaningful method to safely exercise his right to compulsory process without the intercession of law enforcement.”
Thompson has requested that a process server with the U.S. Marshals Service deliver a document on his behalf.
It is not clear which case the document is related to, or in what capacity Thompson seeks to depose Trump.
Several Jan. 6 defendants have blamed the former president for their actions at the Capitol.
