The US Secret Service has acknowledged that it repeatedly denied Republican frontrunner and former President Donald Trump additional protection since he left office, the New York Times has reported, citing the agency’s chief spokesperson. The official reportedly attributed the supposed security lapse to the service being overstretched.
Trump narrowly avoided death at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, when a would-be assassin’s bullet clipped his ear as it whizzed past his head. Firing from a rooftop around 500 feet (150 meters) from the stage, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks killed one spectator at the rally and wounded two others before he was shot dead by Secret Service snipers.
In its article on Saturday, the New York Times quoted US Secret Service Chief of Communications Anthony Guglielmi as admitting that the agency had turned down several requests for additional federal security assets sought by Trump’s detail over the past few years. Its representative allegedly pointed out that the requests in question did not relate directly to the rally in Butler.
The NYT also quoted an unnamed Trump campaign staffer as confirming there were an insufficient number of metal detectors and that specially trained dogs were absent at venues, adding that it has been a common problem faced by the GOP frontrunner.
According to the media outlet, Guglielmi explained in a statement that the federal agency is limited in the amount of resources it can dispatch to events. In some cases, it is forced to utilize “state or local partners to provide specialized functions,” the spokesperson allegedly said.
Secret Service agents are currently tasked with protecting the incumbent president and vice president, as well as former presidents, officials in the line of succession, and major presidential and VP candidates, along with their immediate families.
The Times noted that last Sunday, Guglielmi insisted that “there’s an untrue assertion that a member of the former president’s team requested additional resources and that those were rebuffed.”
A number of Republican lawmakers have raised questions about the agency’s performance, with some even calling on its director, Kimberly Cheatle, to step down.
Earlier this week, the GOP-run House Oversight Committee issued a subpoena compelling the official to testify on Capitol Hill on Monday.
Explaining the absence of Secret Service snipers on the rooftop where the shooter took up position, Cheatle told ABC News on Tuesday that “we wouldn’t want to put somebody up on a sloped roof.” She insisted that the building had been secured “from inside.”
Her line of reasoning, however, has failed to convince Republican lawmakers and security experts alike.
