'Armed man with assault conviction shared lift with Obama'

In a major security lapse, a private security contractor with a gun and a violent criminal past rode in an elevator with US President Obama last month, the latest in a series of embarrassing missteps by the Secret Service.
The incident occurred on September 16 in Atlanta while Obama was visiting the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to discuss the response to the Ebola virus, Washington Post reported today.
"A security contractor with a gun and three convictions for assault and battery was allowed on an elevator with President Obama during a September 16 trip to Atlanta, violating Secret Service protocols," the paper said.

The unnamed contractor used a phone camera to create a video of Obama in the elevator, a step security personnel are barred from taking.
He did not comply when Secret Service agents asked him to stop, the report said.
The agents questioned him, and used a database that showed he had a criminal record - three convictions for assault and battery.

A supervisor from the security firm fired the contractor on the spot. The man then agreed to turn over his gun, which he should not have had in Obama's presence.
The report in the Post could be another embarrassment for the Secret Service after its director Julia Pierson took responsibility before a hostile House of Representatives oversight committee hearing for an "unacceptable" security breach at the presidential residence.

Omar Gonzalez, 42, scaled a fence at the White House, ran across the lawn, entered an unlocked door, entered the East Room and was eventually tackled inside.
That incident came after a previous security scare in 2011, when a lone gunman fired shots at the White House.
The following year three Secret Service agents were sent home from a presidential trip to Amsterdam after they were caught drinking.
"You have a convicted felon within arm's reach of the president and they never did a background check," Jason Chaffetz, who heads a subcommittee investigating the Secret Service, said while reacting to the latest incident.

"Words aren't strong enough for the outrage I feel for the safety of the President and his family," the lawmaker said.