Two failed attempts to assassinate former President Donald Trump in just more than two months have exposed apparent holes in the shield that is supposed to protect him. Now, leaders from both major political parties are calling for tighter security as Trump continues his presidential campaign.
Rep. Mike Kelly (R-Pa.), who heads a bipartisan task force probing the July 13 Pennsylvania assassination attempt that wounded Trump, said the Sept. 15 attempt in Florida underscores his concerns.
“This should be a wake-up call to America about just how dangerous ... things are right now” for the nation’s top political leaders, Kelly told The Epoch Times in a Sept. 16 interview.
He said those concerns should be particularly acute for Trump, the Republican presidential nominee.
“Two times now, there’s been an attempt to assassinate him,” the Pennsylvania congressman said, begging the question: “What is it that is taking place right now that there’s not enough security ahead of time?”
Democrats, including President Joe Biden, joined Kelly and other Republicans in decrying violence against the former president, who is in the thick of a presidential race against Vice President Kamala Harris ahead of the Nov. 5 election.
The Secret Service “needs more help,” and Congress should respond to that need, Biden told reporters on Sept. 16.
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), said that the Senate is prepared to provide more funding “if the Secret Service is in need of more resources.”
Such statements trouble Kelly.
“Have we become that casual about protective services?” he asked.
Kelly noted that other former presidents are still “walking around out there” and that heightened protection is warranted, particularly following an assassination attempt.
Johnson said: “President Trump needs the most coverage of anyone. He’s the most attacked. He’s the most threatened, even probably more than when he was in the Oval Office. So we are demanding in the House that he has every asset available, and we will make more available if necessary. I don’t think it’s a funding issue. I think it’s a manpower allocation.”
The July 13 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, was well-publicized, giving the suspected gunman “all kinds of lead time” to stake out the grounds and make other plans for the shooting, Kelly noted.
In contrast, only a select few people should have known about the former president’s Sept. 15 outing at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, he said.
“How did that guy know to be on that golf course that day?” he asked.
Kelly said that suggests the gunman “somehow ... got information from somebody” before Trump’s arrival. The Epoch Times asked the Trump campaign how far in advance the former president’s golf outing was planned but received no response before publication.
“On a Sunday afternoon, when the president decides to go golfing at his own golf course, and somehow this shooter turns up at that same spot, in the same time with the same objective as the shooter at Butler had—and that was to kill the [former] president of the United States,” Kelly said.
A Secret Service agent spotted a gun barrel protruding through the perimeter fence and fired at the spot where the apparent would-be assassin was lying in wait; the man fled without firing a shot. Police stopped Routh’s vehicle a short time later and arrested him. He faces two federal firearms charges.
Trump and many others have commended the Secret Service for their quick action, which included shielding Trump after an agent spotted the rifle.
The Secret Service was commended for rapidly shielding Trump in Butler, too, although the agency faced criticism for failing to secure the rooftop where the suspected gunman, Thomas Matthew Crooks, had positioned himself when he fired at Trump. Multiple rally attendees had alerted police about Crooks before the former president appeared on stage at the Butler Farm Show, prompting questions and concerns over why the candidate was allowed to take the stage.
Kelly reiterated that his task force is committed to finding answers about the attacks on Trump; Johnson said congressional hearings about the Butler assassination attempt could be convened next week.
“We take for granted too much the fact that we are safe and secure, and we’re always going to be that way because we’re America. I think we’ve shown that we’re very vulnerable in a lot of different areas, and we'd better wake up about what’s going on in our country, in our nation, in a world that’s very much upside-down right now,” Kelly said.
“I’m telling people: ‘Please do not take for granted that our freedoms and our liberties are always going to be there, that we’re going to be able to defend them.”
In a Sept. 16 report, Hawley said that the lead agent for Trump’s Butler visit and rally “failed a key examination during their federal law enforcement training to become a Secret Service agent.”
In addition, Secret Service agents who were supposed to team up with state and local officers on reports of suspicious persons “were absent from the Butler rally.” Finally, Hawley represented that the hospital where Trump was treated for the injury to his right ear was “poorly secured.”
In an emailed statement to The Epoch Times, a spokesman for the agency said: “The U.S. Secret Service is aware of the Senator’s report and will continue to work with Congressional oversight committees in both the House and the Senate.”
