RNC accuses Secret Service of ignoring security concerns around Milwaukee convention

The Republican National Committee on Thursday accused the US Secret Service of ignoring its security concerns surrounding the party’s July convention in Milwaukee, warning that the agency was putting the event at risk.

The Republican National Committee on Thursday accused the US Secret Service of ignoring its security concerns surrounding the party’s July convention in Milwaukee, warning that the agency was putting the event at risk. In a sternly worded letter to Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle, RNC counsel Todd Steggerda said the security environment around the convention was “rapidly deteriorating” and demanded action. “Rather than dissipating, the overall security climate has worsened significantly over the past month of the USSS’s inaction,” Steggerda wrote, adding that Cheatle’s “failure to act now to prevent these unnecessary and certain risks will imperil tens of thousands of convention attendees.” CNN has reached out to the Secret Service. The RNC has raised concerns over the proximity of planned protest zones to the pathway that convention attendees must walk to access the venue. Steggerda in a letter last month had asked the Secret Service to create more of a buffer between the routes for attendees and the First Amendment Zone where protesters can gather. The party has proposed an alternative location for the First Amendment Zone that would ensure attendees would not have to walk past protesters.