Secret Service Reveals What Caused Embarrassing Motorcade Gaffe

The secret is out on what caused Donald Trump’s presidential limo to have its trunk open as he rode inside.

The vehicle, known as “The Beast” or ”Cadillac One,” suffered a “mechanical” failure on Sunday that left its back door ajar as Trump was transported from Mar-a-Lago to the nearby Palm Beach International Airport, the Daily Beast has learned.

The US President's official vehicle known as "The Beast", drives with its trunk open, as US President Donald Trump's motorcade travels to Palm Beach International Airport in West Palm Beach, Florida, on November 9, 2025. Trump is returning to Washington DC after spending part of the weekend at his Florida residence of Mar-a-Lago. (Photo by Jim WATSON / AFP) (Photo by JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images) — President Donald Trump is spotted in “The Beast” as it drove with its trunk open on Sunday. JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images

Matt Fagiana, a spokesperson for the Secret Service, said the issue has since been repaired and did not affect the president’s trip—though it led to plenty of attention and criticism online.

“During the motorcade from Mar-a-Lago to Palm Beach International Airport, one of the motorcade vehicles’ trunks inadvertently opened and remained in the upright position for a part of the motorcade route,” Fagiana told the Beast. “No items were lost or displaced while in transit. The issue was determined to be mechanical in nature, has been identified, and has since been repaired.”

News photographers captured images of Trump, 79, inside the limo as its trunk remained stuck in an upright position.

A black SUV was seen trailing The Beast, indicating agents were likely quickly alerted to the mechanical issue. However, the motorcade did not appear to stop on the four-mile trip to the airport, where Air Force One was waiting to take the president home.

Some theorized online that the Secret Service had mistakenly forgotten to close the trunk—a gaffe that was perhaps the result of staffing issues during the government shutdown, which has caused problems with air travel.

Secret service not being paid during the govt shut down? Trunk open? What do they care, let Trump shut it himself.

— depirrok (@depirrok1) November 10, 2025

Secret Service agents are federal employees who typically are not paid during a shutdown, but the Trump administration has moved around funds to keep them and other federal agents—like those in the FBI and Border Patrol—paid this fall.

Neither Trump nor the White House has addressed the open trunk. Officials have not said which items, if any, were in the trunk when it flew open. CNN first reported that the trunk’s opening did not impact the president’s travel.

What the trunk typically holds is largely a secret. Autoweek reported in 2013 that it is used to store “extra weapons, a separate oxygen supply under the president’s seat, and emergency medical equipment, including bottles of the president’s blood type.”

A motorcade of U.S. President Donald Trump is seen on the tarmac of Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson ahead of his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Anchorage, Alaska, the United States. — President Donald Trump invited Russia’s Vladimir Putin to ride with him in “The Beast” during their meeting in Alaska over the summer. Sputnik via AP

The site reported that, at the time, there were a dozen identical versions of “The Beast” in a presidential fleet. Each vehicle costs over $1 million and is heavily armored.

“The armor plating is so thick and the doors so heavy that it’s nearly physically impossible for the president to open them from inside,” Autoweek reported.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, given its weight, the vehicle averaged only 3.7 miles per gallon as of 2013. There has been no word on whether such a figure has changed in recent redesigns of the car, as the Secret Service keeps such details close to the chest.

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