Donald Trump
Donald TrumpReuters

U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday hailed the Secret Service for its work in stopping an intruder who scaled a White House fence late on Friday and entered the grounds.

Trump told reporters that the United States Secret Service did a "fantastic job", adding that the intruder is a “troubled person”, according to Reuters.

The President, who was in the White House at the time of the incident, said he was told about the intruder on Friday night.

Trump made his comments at the start of a meeting with cabinet members and some senior White House staff at a golf course he owns outside Washington, D.C.

The Secret Service said no weapons or hazardous substances were found on the infiltrator, whose identity was not given, and a search of the grounds found no threats.

Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly was briefed on the incident. While no information on the status of the infiltrator was provided, the standard procedure for the Secret Service is to turn infiltrators over to the local police department.

In 2014, two men managed to breach into the White House in two separate incidents within a 24-hour period, causing the building to be evacuated.

The White House was on lockdown during Thanksgiving of 2015, after a person jumped the newly upgraded fence.

The jumper managed to get over the fence but was immediately caught.