Secret Service agents accused a man of allegedly stalking and disturbing Malia Obama on multiple occasions. The agents reported 30-year-old Jair Nilton Cardoso to the police for allegedly going to the fourth floor of the Tribeca building where Obama interns. According to sources who spoke with New York Daily News, on April 10, Cardoso held a message to a window and asked her to marry him.
Only two days later, Cardoso allegedly followed Obama at a different location in the West Village. It was after this incident that the Secret Service agents apparently realized that Cardoso was a person who had reportedly attempted to enter the White House while her father was still president.
Upon that realization, the agents reported him to law enforcement agencies. Cardoso was then interviewed by Secret Service agents on April 13 in his apartment in Brooklyn. The exchange between the agents and Cardoso led them to believe that the man had "psychiatric issues." He was then detained and taken to Kings County Hospital in Brooklyn for an evaluation. Cardoso's lawyer could not be contacted for comment.
The agents assigned to the former first daughter reported Cardoso to the NYPD on Tuesday. So far, authorities have not determined whether to charge Cardoso with harassment or stalking.
According to New York, Obama is normally accompanied by a considerable amount of security while she resides in New York City. In one of her recent outings after Donald Trump took over her father's role, she was spotted at the Sundance Film Festival in January. According to Us Weekly, she was with a friend while "one Secret Service guy" accompanied her.
The 18-year-old has a penchant for film, pop culture, and the ins and outs of the movie industry. In 2015, she interned on Lena Dunham's HBO series Girls, MSN reported. A year before that, Obama was a production assistant on CBS drama Extant.
Currently, Obama is reportedly interning for film producer Harvey Weinstein, at The Weinstein Co.'s New York office. The studio boasts critically acclaimed titles like The King's Speech and The Fighter. At this moment, it is not clear in what capacity Obama will eventually work, but it is a pleasant step forward in an industry that continues to face problems in terms of appointing women and women of color.
Sometimes being the child of a prolific personality — in this case, the former president of the United States of America — has disadvantages like the relentless attention from others. However, Obama seems to have handled all sorts of intense spotlight — from feverish paparazzi to baseless rumors — with constant grace. Hopefully, her stay in New York City goes smoothly and she won't have to experience the undeniably uncomfortable and invasive nature of being harangued again.
