No, Ambulance Didn't Take Trump Away From Mar-a-Lago

A post on X that claimed two ambulances full of Secret Service employees left Mar-a-Lago received millions of views.

On Nov. 21, 2024, The Independent's White House correspondent, Andrew Feinberg, claimed on X [archived] that two ambulances and several vans that appeared full of U.S. Secret Service personnel had left Mar-a-Lago "in the last few minutes." The post received more than 4 million views, as of this writing,

(X account @AndrewFeinberg)

The viral post set off a wave of concern that President-elect Donald Trump was in some kind of danger or health crisis.

However, it was a false alarm. Anthony Guglielmi, spokesperson for the Secret Service, responded to Feinberg's original post, clarifying that there were no issues or concerns "with any Secret Service protectees on the property," and if there was an ambulance, "it may be an unrelated issue."

(X account @SecretSvcSpox)

The ambulances spotted were standard procedure; Feinberg later reported that they belonged to Vice President-elect JD Vance's motorcade.

Trump's spokesman, Steven Cheung, wrote on X that "some idiot at CBS overreacted and set off the fire alarm for no reason thinking they were going to get the scoop of a lifetime."

Taija PerryCook is a Seattle-based journalist who previously worked for the PNW news site Crosscut and the Jordan Times in Amman.