U.S. President Barack Obama makes a statement
U.S. President Barack Obama makes a statementReuters

U.S. President Barack Obama rode an elevator this month with an armed security contractor who had three criminal convictions, in a violation of Secret Service security protocols, The Associated Press (AP) reported Tuesday.

The latest embarrassment for the Secret Service comes after agency Director Julia Pierson on Tuesday took full responsibility for a September 19 breach of security when a man carrying a knife got into the White House.

The Washington Examiner and The Washington Post reported that the elevator incident took place during Obama's September 16 visit to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

The Post said agents questioned the contractor and discovered his criminal history after he refused to stop video recording the president with a phone camera.

Agents did not know he was armed until a supervisor fired the contractor on the spot and the man turned over his gun, according to AP.

A Secret Service spokesman confirmed the incident but declined to comment further, citing an ongoing investigation of the event.

On Monday it was revealed that the White House intruder, Omar J. Gonzalez, got far further into the building than initially said.

The Secret Service had initially said that Gonzalez, who jumped a fence and ran across the North Lawn, was stopped just inside the doors of the North Portico.

However, Gonzalez actually made it hundreds of feet deeper into the White House before being tackled by a counter-assault agent at the south end of the East Room, near the doorway that leads into the Green Room.

In 2013, a female driver tried to ram the gate of the White House with her car before being shot dead by police.

A month earlier, the White House was locked down in a sudden security alert after a man threw firecrackers over the outer fence.