Report: Convicted Felon Served as Armed Protection During Obama's Atlanta Visit

While the President of the United States learned all he needed to know about the west African Ebola virus outbreak from the Centers for Disease Control during his recent visit to Atlanta, his bodyguards didn’t learn enough about one of the private security contractors who had up-close access to him.

According to the Washington Post, an armed security contractor with three prior felony convictions for assault and battery stood mere inches away from Barack Obama while he was inside an elevator at the CDC headquarters during his trip on Sept. 16. Secret Service agents asked the contractor to stop using his cell phone to record the president, but refused.

Once the president and his security team left the elevator, agents questioned the contractor and performed a background check on him. The contractor’s supervisor arrived and fired him immediately, and the contractor surrendered his firearm, a weapon which the agents were not aware of.

The revelation is another black eye for the Secret Service, which has drawn flak recently for its inability to stop a man from jumping the fence to the White House.