Former U.S. Secret Service agents spoke out at a political rally on Saturday about what may have stopped their former employer from stopping the gunman before he opened fire, early in the aftermath of what authorities said was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump.
Evy Poumpouras, who served in the Secret Service’s Presidential Protection Division during Barack Obama’s White House tenure, told NBC’s “Today” that people like Ben The weekend rally in the relatively exposed rural area of Butler County, Pennsylvania, “is the most anxiety-provoking thing you’re going to do as an agent because you’re trying to make sure this happens.”
The author and journalist said in a speech on Sunday that local and state law enforcement officers working with the Secret Service to carry out such activities could be the first line of defense in areas around Trump rally venues — a position that was reportedly supported by agency spokesman Anthony Guglielmi confirmed.
During Saturday’s rally, a man armed with a rifle climbed onto the roof of a bottle manufacturing plant and fired several shots at the former president from a distance of only about 165 yards.
Multiple people who were outside the venue but near the building to hear Trump campaign for another term reported trying to point out the shooter to police stationed there. But Pomplas said a key question to answer next is determining whether the men spoke directly to officers or whether they tried unsuccessfully to get their attention.
“When you do these rallies, you see thousands of people,” Pomplas said, speculating that the shooter waited until Trump started speaking and had the attention of most of the rally’s audience to get into position. “How much law enforcement do you have? Do you have a law enforcement officer responsible for – what – 1,000 [attendees]? Can they get that person’s attention?
Two law enforcement officials told the Associated Press that a local police officer tried to confront Crooks on the rooftop before the shooting. But after Crooks pointed his rifle at the officer, the officer retreated and the assailant shot Trump shortly after.
A former commander of the Long Beach, Calif., Police Department’s special tactics team told NBC that allowing people to be on a rooftop so close to the rally on Saturday was a “fundamental security failure.”
Pomplas also said government officials are preparing to have difficult conversations about whether to provide enough resources to adequately secure such gatherings. She said it’s not uncommon for her to recruit a certain number of agents to protect a specific occasion, only to be told there aren’t enough funds or manpower to meet the request.
“It all comes at a cost,” she said.
After the shooting broke out, former Secret Service agent Jeff James said agents largely responded appropriately in protecting Trump, who was shot in the tip of his right ear. The gunman apparently killed one spectator and seriously wounded two others before counter-snipers fired back at the gunman, fatally wounding him.
After Trump fell to the stage, agents quickly draped themselves over Trump, preparing to put themselves between the former president and any other shots aimed at him.
In an interview with Pennsylvania news station WTAE, James accused agents of taking so long to remove Trump and load him into an armored vehicle. Trump put his shoes back after they were knocked off, took a moment to defiantly raise his fists, and repeatedly uttered the word “fight” to his supporters before agents managed to get him out of sight.
“There were probably four more gunmen ready to shoot,” James told WTAE, estimating that Trump was shot in the face only three inches away. “We always viewed that attack as just a precursor to the real attack that was yet to come.”
Joseph LaSosa, a former special agent who protected former Presidents Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, told Reuters that ultimately a “deep dive” into Trump’s security was needed on Saturday. review” and make “massive adjustments.”
To that end, Joe Biden said on Sunday he had ordered the Secret Service to ensure adequate security for Trump, including at the Republican National Convention, which begins in Milwaukee on Monday. The president also said he had ordered an independent review of security at Trump rallies.
Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle has been invited to testify before Congress on July 22.
Trump’s assassination attempt was arguably the nadir of a tumultuous decade for the Secret Service. The agency has previously come under scrutiny after senior members drove drunkenly through the White House grounds, crashed into a barricade and speeded past a package dropped by a woman who said she “had… a bomb,” The Washington Post reported. .
The package contained a book, but that did little to quell outrage and other scandals that have engulfed the Secret Service, which also investigates certain financial crimes.
Agents allegedly hired prostitutes in Colombia and allowed a White House wall-jumper into the building. It also took four days for agents to realize that a sniper had opened fire on the White House and somehow allowed a gunman to share an elevator with Obama.
Saturday marked the first time a president or a major party Oval Office candidate has been shot to death since Ronald Reagan was attacked outside a Washington, D.C., hotel in 1981.
The most recent of four US presidents to be assassinated was John F Kennedy in 1963. The assassination resulted in the presidential candidate receiving Secret Service protection.
Kennedy’s son, Robert F Kennedy Jr, asked for Secret Service protection as he ran for president independently ahead of the November election, and he asked for an outpouring of support after Saturday’s attack on a Trump rally, Politico reported .
