Secret Service reveals security flaws that led to assassination attempt of Donald Trump

An internal report by the United States Secret Service released on Friday concluded that the security failures committed by the elite body, responsible for monitoring presidents and top-level political figures, are the those responsible for the attack on former President Donald Trump last July, when he was injured in the ear.

The internal review carried out following the incident – one of the multiple investigations being carried out on the incident – concluded, among other things, that the agents who were monitoring the former Republican president (2017-2021) while he was leading a campaign event in Butler (Pennsylvania) They did not have the technical capacity to communicate with local police.

Nor did they detect drones on the day of the event, the report said, adding that officers did not discuss beforehand how to protect a warehouse complex surrounding the site.

On July 13, Trump was shot in the ear while participating in a campaign event ahead of the November presidential election. The shooter, a 20-year-old who was later shot dead by Secret Service agents, He managed to shoot from a roof about 140 meters from the former president even if outside the security perimeter.

The strong criticism that arose after the incident led to the resignation of Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle, who described the attack as ““the most significant operational failure of the Secret Service in decades.”

Scrutiny of the agency has increased in recent days after Trump was also reportedly at risk of an apparent second assassination attempt while golfing in Florida on Sunday, by a man who prowled the area for hours armed with an AK-47 rifle equipped with a scope, but did not fire any shots.

At a press conference on Friday, the current acting director of the Secret Service, Ronald Rowe, said that Trump is currently receiving “the highest level of protection possible”a security equal to that of President Joe Biden and candidate Kamala Harris.

On Sunday, at Trump’s golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida, “there were counter-sniper elements present” and “a full counter-attack team that was there in the vicinity.”

The officer who spotted the attacker “identified a threat, an individual with a long weapon, and made quick decisions and acted quickly to mitigate it.”

“The former president was not shot, he was not exposed,” he said, and the arrest was proof that “the procedures are working” and “that high level of protection is working.”

Sunday’s incident prompted several public figures, including President Joe Biden, to call for increased funding for the Secret Service.

Precisely this Friday the House of Representatives unanimously approved Urgent bipartisan legislation that would increase Secret Service protection for presidential candidates from both parties, Trump and Kamala Harris, as well as their vice-presidential running mates.

The bill is just three pages long, and if signed into law, Trump and Harris would receive the same standard of Secret Security protection as President Joe Biden, something Rowe says is already happening.

In fact, it’s not clear the bill will pass because it has to go to the Senate, which is seeking to include additional funding for the Secret Service in the stopgap funding bill Congress must pass by Sept. 30 to avoid a government shutdown.