MIDTOWN — A man carrying knives tried to get into Trump Tower on Thursday in an attempt to meet Ivanka Trump, but was stopped by Secret Service agents when they noticed he was wearing a bulletproof vest, according to the NYPD.
Sixto Adames Benitez, a 52-year-old Bronx man, entered the Trump Tower checkpoint at 725 Fifth Ave. around 4 p.m. on Thursday and was stopped when security saw that he was wearing a protective vest under his shirt, police said.
He told them that he was a U.S. senator and a special agent on his way to talk to Trump about her dress line, according to authorities. Benitez is neither a senator or a special agent, police said.
They searched him and found two throwing knives and a knotted sock with a heavy metal object inside.
He was arrested and charged with two counts of criminal possession of a weapon, as well as criminal possession of a forged instrument for having a fake ID, police said. He has no prior arrests.
Police took Benitez to NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center for psychiatric evaluation.
As of Friday morning he had not been arraigned, according to the Manhattan District Attorney's Office.
Ivanka Trump appears to have been in Germany Thursday for the G20 Summit, according to her Twitter page.
