JUST IN: Secret Service Vehicle Bursts Into Flames Outside White House

A U.S. Secret Service vehicle burst into flames outside the White House on Monday, just hours before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to meet face-to-face with President Donald Trump.

The vehicle was parked near 18th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, where agents were assisting in road closures for the prime minister’s arrival. The fire originated in the back seat of the SUV, according to a spokesman.

Just The News White House Correspondent Amanda Head was an eyewitness to the surreal scene, which authorities are still investigating.

Photographs from the scene show firetrucks arriving to douse the flames, which were contained inside the vehicle as a plume of smoke emitted from the front passenger door. The fire appeared to be extinguished shortly before 11 a.m. on Monday.

It will be Netanyahu’s fourth visit to the White House since President Trump took office in January and comes as both countries face increasing international pressure to end the war in Gaza and negotiate with Hamas to secure the release of the remaining hostages. The conservative prime minister is seeking to bolster support from his most crucial ally amid growing isolation on the international stage.

He has been accused of war crimes by the International Crimes Court and pressured by international allies to end an ongoing aid blockage as independent flotillas attempt to deliver food to Gazans.

Monday’s fire is another reminder of the challenges that have befallen the beleaguered Secret Service since last year. Director Sean Curran, who served as Trump’s chief of security during his 2024 campaign, took over the agency this year with the president’s full support.

Curran is contending with an agency that has faced accusations of “woke” hiring and derelict agents who have left their posts without warning or posted photos to social media that compromised President Trump’s safety.

While Trump’s near-assassination on July 13, 2024, is well-documented, less covered were the subsequent failures by the Secret Service that followed.

During a Bitcoin conference in Nashville, Trump was briefly confined to a back room while two attendees who slipped through security were sought out. At another Trump event, a female agent abandoned her post to breastfeed her infant child.

One agent tasked with protecting Mar-a-Lago last year posted photos of a sunset that superiors later concluded violated Trump’s personal safety by providing would-be attackers with additional information about the compound’s security measures.

The fire is also an ignominious start to Trump’s meeting with Netanyahu, which officials have privately fretted may go “off the rails” if both sides don’t reach common ground early on.