The man who allegedly stole a Gucci bag loaded with cash from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem was sitting at the table next to hers, according to video of Sunday’s incident reviewed by Secret Service investigators.
The surveillance footage of the incident at The Capital Burger restaurant in Washington, DC, showed the suspect purposefully moving close to Noem as he zeroed in on her Gucci bag near her feet, a law enforcement source said.
The thief, dressed in dark clothing, sat down at an empty table next to Noem with his back facing her and used his left foot to slide the bag away, the source said. He surveyed the restaurant before eventually picking up the bag, covering it with his jacket and leaving.
Only when Noem got up from the table did she realize her bag was missing, the source said.
Items inside the Gucci bag included a Louis Vuitton Clemence wallet, Noem’s driver’s license, medication, apartment keys, passport, DHS access badge, makeup bag, blank checks, and about $3,000 in cash.
CNN reached out to The Capital Burger’s parent company, Darden Restaurants, which did not respond to a request for comment.
It remains unclear whether the thief knew Noem’s identity or whether she was a random target. The Secret Service, which is leading the investigation, is working to trace any use of Noem’s financial instruments, sources said.
The Secret Service was inside the restaurant with Noem, who was dining at a table with her family, according to a source familiar. The source didn’t specify how many agents accompanied Noem or where they were inside the restaurant.
Commenting on the large sum of cash Noem was carrying, a DHS spokesperson said: “Her entire family was in town including her children and grandchildren – she was using the withdrawal to treat her family to dinner, activities, and Easter gifts.”
Law enforcement experts have raised concerns about whether the incident, which involved a thief getting so close to a Cabinet official and then absconding with her belongings, may have been a lapse in security.
“This is a security breach that actually has high consequences, and it needs immediate and further review by the Secret Service and DHS and other law enforcement partners,” said Jonathan Wackrow, a CNN law enforcement analyst and former Secret Service agent.
“If necessary, the Secret Service will need to make operational changes on how they deal with these types of private events moving forward,” Wackrow told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on “The Source.”
He added that Noem remains “at higher risk for targeted threats, both by foreign and domestic actors, and just her public profile alone makes her a symbolic target.”
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