‘The Secret Service needs more help’: Trump protection scrutinized after apparent assassination attempt
CNN
The second apparent assassination attempt against Donald Trump in as many months is raising new alarms about whether the Secret Service can adequately protect the former president or whether more needs to be done to bolster the security of the Republican presidential candidate even though he’s not in office.
The second apparent assassination attempt against Donald Trump in as many months is raising new alarms about whether the Secret Service can adequately protect the former president or whether more needs to be done to bolster the security of the Republican presidential candidate even though he’s not in office. While Secret Service agents on Sunday prevented the potential shooter from firing at Trump while golfing at his West Palm Beach course – unlike the would-be assassin in Butler, Pennsylvania – questions are again swirling about how another gunman was able to get within several hundred yards of the former president, especially given the outing was not a publicly announced event. “He’s a former president running for reelection again. We have to be able to keep him safe,” Rep. Jared Moskowitz, a Florida Democrat and member of the congressional task force now investigating both assassination attempts, told CNN’s Anderson Cooper on Sunday. “This is getting embarrassing for the agency, and people in Congress are bewildered why we’re in this situation now for a second time.” While a sitting president is always afforded a different level of protection than candidates seeking the same office, a variety of credible threats against Trump and the first unsuccessful assassination attempt prompted the Secret Service to provide him with additional resources not usually offered to someone in his position. But after a second close call, even President Joe Biden recognized a problem still persists. “The Secret Service needs more help,” Biden told reporters while leaving the White House on Monday.