Man Arrested After Allegedly Assaulting Secret Service Officer Outside White House

Members of the Secret Service Uniformed Divison patrol alongside the security fence around the perimeter of the White House in Washington on March 18, 2017. (Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images)

A man was arrested on Aug. 9 after allegedly assaulting a uniformed Secret Service officer outside the White House, an agency spokesperson said.

The assault took place around 12:30 p.m. in the 1600 block of Pennsylvania Avenue NW, an area that is frequented by pedestrians and tourists hoping to see the White House.

A Secret Service spokesperson said in a statement to The Washington Post that the man “physically assaulted” a uniformed officer near a guard booth at 15th Street and that the attack was “without provocation.”

The officer did not receive any life-threatening injuries, the spokesperson said. The incident is being investigated and the identity of the person who was arrested was not immediately made public.

The Epoch Times has contacted the Secret Service for further comment.

Tuesday’s incident came shortly before President Joe Biden delivered remarks on the South Lawn of the White House as he signed the CHIPS and Science Act allocating a $280 billion funding package toward boosting domestic semiconductor manufacturing and scientific research.

“The CHIPS and Science Act supercharges our efforts to make semiconductors here in America, those tiny computer chips smaller than a fingertip that are the building blocks for our modern economy, powering everything from smartphones, to dishwashers, to automobiles,” Biden said when signing the act.

“America invented the semiconductor ... and this law brings it back home. It’s in our economic interest and it’s in our national security interest to do so,” Biden added.

CHIPS Act Signed Into Law

According to a White House fact sheet on the law, the CHIPS and Science Act will “boost American semiconductor research, development, and production, ensuring U.S. leadership in the technology that forms the foundation of everything from automobiles to household appliances to defense systems.”

Specifically, the law will “strengthen American manufacturing, supply chains, and national security, and invest in research and development, science and technology, and the workforce of the future to keep the United States the leader in the industries of tomorrow, including nanotechnology, clean energy, quantum computing, and artificial intelligence.”

While Democrats and other supporters of the law have touted its potential to improve jobs and national security by removing the United States’ dependence on foreign supply chains, critics argue that it amounts to a corporate handout as it would provide computer chip manufacturers with financial incentives to boost production in the country.

Critics also argue that the law could increase inflation, which stood at 9.1 percent in June, and be a burden to taxpayers.

“The question that we should be asking is this,” said Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) during a Monday speech on the Senate floor. “Should American taxpayers provide the microchip industry with a blank check of over $76 billion at the same exact time when semiconductor companies are making tens of billions of dollars in profits and paying their CEOs exorbitant compensation packages?”

“I think the answer to that is a resounding no.”