# The unsearched car at Mar-a-Lago > **Source: KiriPedia** (https://www.kiripedia.org), the free encyclopedia and archive of former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou's on-record words. Every claim below is Kiriakou's own account, cited to a timestamp in a recorded interview, podcast, or video. KiriPedia is an independent project, not affiliated with Kiriakou. > > Cite as: "The unsearched car at Mar-a-Lago," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-unsearched-car-at-mar-a-lago/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia. *An episode John Kiriakou related in July 2024 as evidence that the Secret Service's problem is systemic rather than confined to the Butler rally: a retired Army colonel and Republican fundraiser was asked at the Mar-a-Lago gate whether he had weapons in the car, said yes, went back to his hotel to lock them up, and later realised nobody had ever searched the vehicle.* - **Told to Kiriakou by:** A retired Army colonel and Republican fundraiser - **Occasion:** A fundraising event at Mar-a-Lago, about six months earlier - **The gate question:** "Do you have any weapons in the car?" - **The gap:** Nobody searched the car; an honest answer was the only check **The unsearched car at Mar-a-Lago** is a second-hand account [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou) offered days after the July 2024 shooting at [Butler](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/butler-rally-shooting), to argue that what happened there reflected a standing problem in how the [Secret Service](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/secret-service) protects a candidate rather than one bad afternoon. ## What he was told The source was a friend of his: a retired Army colonel, by then a prominent Republican fundraiser. He and his wife not only hold concealed carry permits but are concealed carry instructors.[1] About six months before, the couple drove to Mar-a-Lago for a fundraising event. The Secret Service stopped them at the gate and asked, pleasantly, whether they had any weapons in the car. He said they did, two, both secured in the trunk. He was told he could not bring them onto the grounds, so he let his wife out, drove back to the hotel, locked the guns in the safe and returned fifteen or twenty minutes later.[2] ## The point of the story The colonel's own conclusion, as Kiriakou relays it, was the one that mattered: nobody ever searched the car. Had he simply answered no, he could have walked into that ballroom fully armed.[3] Kiriakou's reaction is a question about what the Secret Service is thinking, and then a diagnosis: *"this is a systemic problem here. It's not just what happened Saturday, it's through the entire system of protection that the Secret Service is supposed to be implementing."*[3] ## See also - [Secret Service](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/secret-service) - [Butler rally shooting](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/butler-rally-shooting) - [Donald Trump](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/donald-trump) ## Sources 1. #249 — Trump Assassination Attempt (John is co-guest w/ Matt Cox ✓) (2024-07-16), at 1:31:21. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcgJXirykZE&t=5481s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2024-07-16-danny-jones-trump-assassination-attempt-john-is-co-guest/ 2. #249 — Trump Assassination Attempt (John is co-guest w/ Matt Cox ✓) (2024-07-16), at 1:31:53. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcgJXirykZE&t=5513s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2024-07-16-danny-jones-trump-assassination-attempt-john-is-co-guest/ 3. #249 — Trump Assassination Attempt (John is co-guest w/ Matt Cox ✓) (2024-07-16), at 1:32:25. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcgJXirykZE&t=5545s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2024-07-16-danny-jones-trump-assassination-attempt-john-is-co-guest/ --- From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-unsearched-car-at-mar-a-lago/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt