'Smooth operator': Expert says thief who stole Noem's Gucci bag was a pro
New details have emerged in the brazen heist of Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s Gucci bag from a downtown Washington, D.C. restaurant that have led CNN’s John Miller to conclude the thief is likely a professional.
“He's a smooth operator. He does this for a living, there's no doubt about that,” Miller said Tuesday as he delivered fresh insight into the bag swipe that also caused the Trump official to lose $3,000 in cash, her DHS access badge, apartment keys, passport and blank checks, along with other sensitive personal items.
Miller told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on Tuesday that an examination by the Secret Service and the D.C. Metro Police showed Noem inside The Capital Burger sitting in a group with her family when an individual walked in at 7:52 pm.
“He looks around, he's got black pants, white sneakers, a black jacket, a black baseball cap, and he's wearing an N95 mask like we saw during Covid. And, you know, it appears he might be looking for somebody,” Miller said. “As a group of people get up from that table, he sits down at the table next to hers, angles over in her direction, and then within three minutes of him entering the restaurant, he's taken that seat with his left foot, he slides the bag that's next to her chair under his table.”
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That’s when the still unidentified man “takes the jacket, puts it over the bag under the table, picks up the jacket, looks around the place again like he's still looking for who he's meeting, then gets up with the jacket and the bag under it and leaves,” according to Miller.
Miller concluded that it was Noem’s $4,400 luxury bag that made her a target.
“Based on my experience, if I am a professional pickpocket and bag swiper when I go into a restaurant, I'm looking for the ones hanging on the edge of the bar stools. I'll have a coat over my arm. I might dip in and see if I can take the purse out."
“But when I see a $4,400 Gucci bag, the large one, the Gucci bag with the shoulder strap, that's what's going to make it targeted,” said the CNN analyst, who has an extensive background in law enforcement.
“If I think this is a cabinet-level person with Secret Service people around and watching her, that's going to make me walk away,” he added. “I think what drew him to that table was the bag, because you got a $4,400 bag, you know there's going to be good stuff inside.”