Secret Service director testimony omits elevator incident with Obama

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Testimony given by the director of the embattled U.S. Secret Service on Tuesday appears to conflict with the news that broke hours after Julia Pierson's testimony -- that a private security contractor with a gun shared an elevator with President Obama, in violation of protocol, during his trip to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta two weeks ago.

In her testimony before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Pierson said she is responsible for briefing the President whenever there is a serious breach of his or his family's security. When asked how many times she had to take such action in 2014, she said it was only after the September 19 incident in which a man armed with a knife jumped the White House fence and made it into the mansion's East Room.
How could intruder breach W.H. security?

Not long after the hearing adjourned, the Washington Examiner and then the Washington Post reported the incident in Atlanta on September 16.

An agency official confirmed the incident to CNN in which a security contractor operating an elevator at the CDC was carrying a gun in the presence of Obama and his Secret Service detail. The contractor was taking pictures of the President and otherwise behaving in an unprofessional manner, the official said. When the security worker was confronted about his behavior, it was revealed that he was armed.

Asked about the apparent inconsistency in Pierson's testimony, a spokesman for the Secret Service, Ed Donovan, told CNN "we aren't going to discuss private conversations the director may have with the President."

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