Three officials from the US Secret Service, including its communications director Anthony Guglielmi, have been escorted from their offices and placed on leave as part of an internal misconduct investigation. Their security clearances have been suspended and work devices confiscated, with the FBI and CIA reportedly involved. The move comes amid a wider hunt led by FBI Director Kash Patel for the source of a media leak concerning a secretive plane swap that spirited Donald Trump away from Ankara, Turkey, following last month's NATO summit amid an alleged Iranian assassination threat.

The Secret Service has declined to comment on the exact nature of the probe, though the timing follows revelations that Trump left Air Force One via an airport catering cart, taking only a small group of aides while leaving several cabinet members behind. Guglielmi, who has led the agency's communications since the Biden administration, previously disclosed a separate criminal inquiry into an agent assigned to Vice President JD Vance over a suspected leak. The episode adds to a turbulent period for the agency under director Sean Curran, who took charge after the Butler, Pennsylvania assassination attempt on Trump and has since faced continued scrutiny alongside some operational successes, including foiling a gunman at the White House Correspondents' Dinner.