Arizona State Rep: Security Protocols Are Still ‘Lacking’ for Trump

An Arizona State legislator who previously worked security details for presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama is suggesting that the second attempt on former president Trump’s life earlier this week in Florida demonstrates a need for stronger security protocols.

Rep. John Gillette (R) had earlier labeled the July assassination attempt a security policy “mistake that just doesn’t happen.”

According to Mojave Today, prior to serving in the Arizona Legislature, Gillette had served in the U.S. Army, within law enforcement counterterrorism units and on Department of Defense security protection details for both Presidents Bush and Obama.

Gillette explained that, on a scale of 1-4, Trump’s security protocol measures would rate a 2, adding:

Let’s say you have a 1-4 [scale of] security protocol: ‘1’ being very loose security in an open area in Pennsylvania, now they’ve bumped it up to a number ‘2’ or ‘2.5’ status; to where we have a little bit bigger perimeter, we have a few more personnel detailed to the event, but we’re still not controlling everything within the sphere of the president.

The lawmaker went on to note that the second would-be assassin Ryan Routh was on the radar of Homeland Security and had a long history of previous arrests.

Based on this, Gillette says, when Routh flew from his home in Hawaii to Florida, where former president Trump lives, that Routh should “have a detail on him 24/7.”

Gillette gives credit to the Secret Service for spotting the shooter waiting on the sixth hole of Trump’s golf course and engaging the threat once he was spotted.

At the same time, Gillette notes that the outer perimeter of security was loose enough that Routh was able to get to his vehicle and try to escape.

Gillette also said the fact that the shooter was able to position himself that close to Trump and that it was a citizen’s photo of Routh’s license plate which helped lead to his arrest both demonstrate that Trump’s security protocol was lacking.

The Arizona lawmaker also decried how opposition rhetoric, like calling Trump a threat to democracy and comparing him to Hitler could be seen by mentally unstable individuals like the two would-be assassins who might see it as a call to action.

Attempt #2 on Trump. What do the would be assassin's have in common? pic.twitter.com/GHgu2bt3E5

— Rep. John Gillette AZ House LD30 (@AzRepGillette) September 16, 2024

Gillette continues to call for more information on both shooters and stated that Acting Director of the Secret Service Ronald L. Rowe Jr. appears to be “following in the same footsteps” of the previous director Kimberly A. Cheatle who has since resigned.