The Secrecy of the Sunday Assassination Attempted by a Man Who Shot and Stripped a Republican Presidential Candidate
There has been scrutiny on the Secret Service since July, when a man fired multiple shots at Trump at a town hall meeting, hitting him in the ear, and killing one attendee. The gunman was killed. Then, two months later, a second alleged gunman was able to make it within several hundred yards of Trump at his West Palm Beach, Fla., golf course. He did not shoot at Trump, nor did he have the former president in his sights. The suspect was apprehended.
Still, the attempts have prompted Lowe and other Secret Service personnel to ask Congress for more resources, arguing the agency is limited on personnel and equipment. President Biden had urged Congress to give more resources.
On Tuesday, speaking in a interview with the America First Policy Institute, House Speaker Mike Johnson said that the task force would include an investigation into the Sunday incident as well.
On Friday, the House unanimously approved a bill that would direct the Secret Service to give the same protection as the current president and vice president. Lawmakers also increased the scope of a bipartisan taskforce that is investigating the first assassination attempt to also investigate the apparent second attempt. The group of bipartisan House members is expected to file their own report in December.
Rowe had a meeting with members of Congress last week and asked for better training for counternipers and more staff. It wasn’t immediately clear how much extra money or personnel the agency is asking for.
The Secret Service: Addressing the 2016 Pennsylvania Shooting in Washington, D.C. During the 2001 November 11 Attacks, President Trump blasted the Secretary of Homeland Security
The Secret Service operates on a budget of just over $3 billion. More than 2000 additional personnel are employed and 3,600 special agents are employed.
At a news conference on Monday, Rowe defended his agency and said that following the Pennsylvania shooting, he ordered a paradigm shift of being more proactive instead of reactive. But, he said, the organization needs help.
The Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General launched its own review into the Secret Service’s process for securing the Trump rally.
Cheatle was criticized for the Secret Service’s failure to communicate with local law enforcement, as well as failing to secure the roof of the rally, which gave the shooter a clear line of sight to shoot at Trump.
The Secret Service is currently helmed by acting Director Ronald Rowe, who stepped into the role after Kimberly Cheatle’s resignation in the wake of the attempt on Trump’s life in July.
The agency aims for a “zero-fail” mission. But the recent attempts against Trump have called into question the agency’s leadership and its operatives’ ability to do their jobs.
Following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the U.S., the agency shifted from the Treasury Department to the Department of Homeland Security, which was created in response to the attacks.
In the years since, the agency has been at the forefront of a number of history-altering events in U.S. politics, including the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and serious attempts on the lives of Presidents Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan.
The Department of the Treasury created the agency to fight the counterfeiting of U.S. currency following the Civil War. Ironically, President Abraham Lincoln signed approval to start the agency on the same day he was shot.
Secret Service Security Improves After the July 13 Shooting: The Case for a White Man Who Came Close to the U.S. President
In a Monday interview, Trump thanked the Secret Service agents for their protection and said they had done a great job.
Then, two months later, a second alleged gunman came close to Trump — though he did not shoot, and did not have the former president in his sights. The suspect was caught.
The Secret Service acknowledged Friday failures that led to a gunman being able to wound former President Donald Trump at a rally in Butler, Pa., on July 13.
“It’s important that we hold ourselves to account for the failures of July 13 and that we use the lessons learned to make sure that we do not have another failure like this again,” Ronald Rowe, the acting director of the Secret Service, told reporters.
The agent cited was Row, as well as over-reliance on mobile devices and flaws in advance planning. He did not ask anyone to resign, and he refused to give details but did say that employees would be held accountable.
Rowe said the former president has received more robust security since he left office than any other president. That security was increased to a presidential level after the July 13 shooting.
“I think that situation was managed according to our training after I had information about the second incident,” Rowe said. A young Secret Service agent reported shots he fired at a man, and was able to communicate via radio.
On Friday, the House unanimously approved a bill that would direct the Secret Service to give the same protection as the current president and vice president — something the agency said is already happening.
The Agents of the AGR Secret Service and the Incident of a Drone-Induced Brownian Reaction on the Las Vegas Shooting
Rowe said employees would be held accountable, declined to give details, but reiterated that contrary to media reports, he did not ask for anyone to resign.
The review found that communication broke down on multiple levels. Secret Service agents missed communication in planning, in operations, on the day of the rally, and on different radio frequencies that were not supportive for quickly sharing real-time information.
The review states that there was no follow-up discussion about modifying their position, despite multiple law enforcement entities questioning the efficacy of that local team’s positioning. The team was not discussed with the Secret Service about being on the AGR roof. Local support for the Special Operations community was not opposed to that location.
The agency released the initial findings for its internal review about the incident on Friday, just a few days after it faced additional criticism over a second suspected shooter who was able to get close to the president at one of his golf courses.