The Washington Post is reporting that Secret Service officials repeatedly denied former President Donald Trump’s security detail’s requests for additional resources prior to the July 13 assassination attempt.
Trump was slightly wounded in the right ear on July 13 when a gunman fired multiple shots during an assassination attempt at the Butler County, Pennsylvania, rally, which resulted in the death of former volunteer fire chief Corey Comperatore and injuries to two other attendees. According to the Post, for at least two years before this deadly incident, Trump’s security detail was denied resources, including counter-sniper teams. This included a 2023 appearance in Pickens, South Carolina, where several buildings surrounded Trump’s stage.
“It’s just true — we don’t have the resources to secure him [Trump] like we did when he was president,” one official told the outlet, adding that Trump’s detail, on the day of the attack, was competing for resources with the Republican National Convention, an event involving first lady Jill Biden, and the advance party for an event that will be attended by President Joe Biden in Austin, Texas.
Once again Mayorkas has MISLED the public.
On CNN he called my statement that President Trump’s detail was DENIED repeated requests for stronger secret service protection “an irresponsible statement that is unequivocally false”.
Now WaPo is citing officials that I was CORRECT,… https://t.co/jPWYzLntWb
— Rep. Mike Waltz (@michaelgwaltz) July 20, 2024
A former agent placed the blame squarely on Secret Service leadership.
“I hate to dumb it down this much but it is a simple case of supply and demand. The requests get turned down routinely,” retired Secret Service agent Bill 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.”
Republican Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, the House Judiciary Committee chairman, wrote to FBI Director Christopher Wray on Thursday, stating that whistleblowers have informed his committee that Trump’s security detail was short-handed due to the NATO summit in Washington, D.C., and Jill Biden’s campaign event in Pittsburgh. Wray is scheduled to testify before the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday.
