Follow-up – Al-Rasheed
The US Secret Service has admitted that it refused former President Donald Trump’s security team’s request for additional resources to bolster its performance for two years before last week’s assassination attempt on Trump.
Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi acknowledged Saturday that some requests were denied, which were not specifically for the Butler rally where the assassination attempt took place, The New York Times reported, after earlier saying: “There is an incorrect allegation that a member of the former president’s team requested additional resources and those requests were denied.”
Guglielmi stressed that the federal agency operates in a “dynamic threat environment,” and that in cases where the Secret Service cannot provide additional resources, it turns to state law enforcement to secure gatherings, or changes its security plans to reduce the chances of the person they are protecting being exposed to any unexpected event.
Two people familiar with the matter confirmed that the Trump campaign had been seeking additional resources throughout much of the time Trump was out of office.
The admission is expected to fuel the intense criticism Secret Service Director Kimberly Shettle will face on Monday when she appears at a hearing with the House Oversight and Accountability Committee.
The Secret Service had already been subjected to a barrage of questions about why it had moved away from its designated area, about 450 feet from Trump’s podium, where the assassin shot the former US president on July 13.
Donald Trump held his first campaign rally on Saturday evening since narrowly escaping an assassination attempt a week ago and officially clinching the Republican nomination for president.
Trump appeared in Grand Rapids, Michigan, a swing state, with his new vice presidential nominee, Sen. Dee Vance of Ohio, for their first campaign rally together.
