Amid the $80 million bounty Iran has put on President Donald Trump, Mar-a-Lago has beefed up security, adding as many as four checkpoints, Ronald Kessler wrote in an exclusive for the U.K.'s Daily Mail.
"The Secret Service has substantially toughened security at Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort after three potentially harmful intrusions and now as Iran has put out an $80 million hit on the president," Kessler wrote Monday.
Kessler is a former Washington correspondent for Newsmax, a Secret Service investigative reporter, and a Trump administration insider, having written "The Trump White House: Changing the Rules of the Game."
"Depending on where members and guests are headed on the property, they now may have to pass through as many as four Secret Service security checkpoints," Kessler wrote about beefed-up security at Mar-a-Lago.
"Their identities are checked based on their driver's licenses, and their vehicles are examined for explosives under the hood and in the trunk. They must pass through metal detectors or be wanded for weapons or explosives at several more check points."
Kessler's report comes as Iran is rumored to be weighing Trump's real estate holdings worldwide as a retaliation for Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani's death via drone strike.
"Now the presence of Secret Service agents and uniformed officers appears to have been increased by at least a third," Kessler wrote.
"The tougher measures by the Secret Service are in addition to protection by the Air Force, which enforces a no-fly zone over Mar-a-Lago when Trump is in town, the Coast Guard, which patrols the waters around Mar-a-Lago, and Palm Beach and Palm Beach County police, who shut down roads leading to the former Marjorie Merriweather Post estate and inspect trucks approaching the area when Trump is in town," Kessler continued.
"The U.S. Army also maintains a contingent on the grounds in case needed."
Kessler, who has famously wrote about the detail assignment for Hillary Clinton is "considered a form of punishment and the worst assignment in the Secret Service," said Trump has permitted his 'grateful' detail to dine on premium steak and seafood at Mar-a-Lago over the holidays.
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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