Inflexible Secret Service protocols, overworked special agents, and a decision against deploying more counter snipers to President Trump's rally in Pennsylvania all contributed to creating the opening for a gunman to wound Trump, kill a bystander, and seriously injure two others, according to several sources in the Secret Service community.
Lawmakers are demanding answers from the insular agency about its security decisions and failures, which allowed 20-year-old Thomas Crooks to crawl onto a roof and fire seven rounds at Trump and into the crowd before a Secret Service counter sniper returned fire, killing Crooks.
Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi denied that Secret Services resources were diverted to the first lady's event from Trump's but declined to provide answers to several emailed questions about that charge and several other questions being raised about potential security lapses on Saturday.
"We did not divert resources from FPOTUS Trump, & protection models don't work that way." Another factor, according to these sources within the Secret Service community, was that the agency was relying heavily on supplemental special agents and local law enforcement because many special agents in Trump's regular protective detail were overburdened and needed to take time off after working several consecutive seven-day weeks.
The site agent, who is in charge of putting all security measures for a particular event in place, was a relatively new agent from the Pittsburgh field office with limited experience, a Secret Service source told RCP. "Trump has a permanent detail it's much smaller in the number of bodies than the president's," the source explained.
In reacting to the shots fired, the Secret Service special agents assigned to Trump that day fulfilled their mission, using their bodies as human shields to protect Trump and ferry him to his motorcade and safety.
Some critics have pointed out that the agency's emphasis on diversity, equity, and inclusion during Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle's tenure was on display in the shooting aftermath when a female agent covering Trump spread her arms to provide more coverage.
" Sen. Josh Hawley, a Missouri Republican, called the assassination attempt "the worst security failure for a president since JFK." Trump allies, including his former acting DHS Director Chad Wolf, are also questioning whether the Secret Service is using similar resources that it would use for past presidents Obama or Bill Clinton, instead of a more robust protective detail.
"Did any member of the Secret Service or any other law enforcement member request permission to engage the shooter?" Ricketts asked in a letter obtained by RCP. "Were any such requests denied?" Moments after Saturday's attempted assassination, when live images of Trump clutching a bloody ear and raising his fist in defiance appeared on cable news and social media, critics almost immediately began to question why Secret Service snipers didn't fire sooner amid reports that onlookers were pointing to Crooks, who was positioned and crawling on a nearby roof, before he managed to fire seven shots at Trump and the crowd.
" The Secret Service briefed reporters Sunday afternoon in Milwaukee about the status of security at the convention but declined to discuss any possible lapses before and during Trump's Saturday rally.
Warning signs about the Secret Service emerged months before the attempted assassination attempt against Trump.
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