A new report claims that, despite numerous requests for increased security by former President Donald Trump’s team, the United States Secret Service denied all requests and left his security team weak ahead of the assassination attempt on July 13th.
According to the Daily Caller, the report from the Washington Post claims that the Trump team’s requests for additional resources were denied two years prior to the incident. In one such case, the former president’s detail requested counter-sniper teams at a rally in Pickens, South Carolina in 2023, due to numerous tall buildings clearly surrounding President Trump’s stage.
One anonymous official admitted to the Post that “it’s just true,” claiming that “we don’t have the resources to secure him [Trump] like we did when he was president.” Earlier reporting had confirmed that a majority of the Secret Service’s assets were already deployed to cover Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden earlier that day, with a massive amount of Secret Service personnel already in Milwaukee, Wisconsin ahead of the Republican National Convention.
Former Secret Service agent Bill Gage blamed the agency’s leadership for the decision to understaff Trump’s security detail.
“I hate to dumb it down this much, but it is a simple case of supply and demand. The requests get turned down routinely,” Gage told the Post. “A director has to finally come forward to say we are way understaffed and we cannot possibly continue with this zero fail mission without a significantly bigger budget.”
Congressman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, sent a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray; in the letter, he claimed that whistleblowers told him that the reasons for Trump’s team being underprepared include Biden’s presence at NATO’s 75th anniversary summit, and Jill Biden appearing at a campaign event in Pittsburgh the same day. Wray will testify before the Judiciary Committee on Wednesday.
President Trump narrowly dodged the would-be assassin’s bullet at the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on that day, with the bullet grazing his ear. Several more rounds were fired as Trump ducked for cover and was surrounded by Secret Service agents. One rallygoer, 50-year-old Corey Comperatore, was killed shielding his family from gunfire, while two other attendees were seriously injured, but have since stabilized.
The multiple security failures of that day, including the gunman being able to get onto a roof in such close proximity to Trump without being immediately noticed and detained, has led to widespread calls for Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle to resign.