The following article by Brett Samuels was posted on the Hill website December 27, 2017:
The Secret Service and a local sheriff’s office on Wednesday denied using a white box truck to block CNN cameras from recording President Trumpplaying golf at his course in West Palm Beach, Fla.
The Secret Service told CNN that the agency “is in the business of protection and investigations not in commissioning vehicles to block the media’s view of the President’s golf swing.”
The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Department also told the network that it did not order the box truck.
Trump has spent each of the past two days at his golf course in Florida. On Tuesday, CNN cameras captured the president during a round with Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.), PGA tour player Bryson DeChambeau and former PGA player Dana Quigley.
On Wednesday, as CNN set up cameras on a public sidewalk outside the property, a white box truck drove up and obscured the view of the course through the trees.
The president, who is staying at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, is scheduled to remain in Florida through New Year’s Day.
Trump, who was critical of former President Obama for the amount of time he spent at golf courses while in office, promised during the 2016 presidential race that he would largely give up golfing if elected.
Wednesday’s visit marked Trump’s 86th trip to one of his courses as president, according to an NBC News tracker. Trump had tweeted on Monday, Christmas night, that he was looking forward to getting “back to work” on Tuesday “in order to Make America Great Again.”