Now what? Secret Service looks ahead after second assassination attempt

By Casey Harper
The Center Square

Former President Donald Trump has survived two assassination attempts in about two months, raising a variety of concerns, chief among them what the U.S. Secret Service could and should be doing to keep the Republican presidential nominee safe.

Authorities have captured the would-be assassin, who was fired upon and arrested by Secret Service agents Sunday afternoon after setting up with an assault-style rifle and scope at a golf course where Trump was playing.

“It sounds like you had a secret service agent that was leapfrogging and going, you know, one hole ahead of the President, so he spotted it,” Chris Ragone, owner of Virginia-based Executive Security Concepts, told The Center Square “So that was an, you know, an excellent job on his part.

“But you wonder how this guy was able to get there, and he was there for 12 hours…” Ragone added. “There must have been some shrubbery or something between that fence and the road to where he could hide and no one could see him.”

Trump gets less protection, despite the summer assassination attempt, than President Joe Biden.

Lora Ries, former acting deputy chief of staff at the Department of Homeland Security, told The Center Square that both assassination attempts were failures by the Secret Service.

“The Secret Service should operate based on threat, not old rules of a protectee’s status as a former president,” Ries, who is now at the Heritage Foundation, told The Center Square. “Trump is perhaps the most threatened person in the world currently, with domestic and foreign threats, including an Iranian assassination plot to avenge the killing of Iranian General Soleimani during Trump’s presidency. His protection should include thorough advance team assets, drones, dogs, significant perimeters and thorough perimeter protection, including counter snipers.”

Details of the second assassination attempt have raised questions. Media reports indicated that the shooter waited in the same spot for 12 hours but that Trump’s decision to play golf was last minute, raising questions about how the shooter could have been in place so early.

“That’s kind of suspicious right there,” Ragone told The Center Square. “If it was really a last-minute decision, how was this guy … did he just go there on a hunch? I mean, I know he plays a lot of golf, but that’s a pretty big stretch.”

The FBI, which called the incident an assassination attempt, is investigating, and those details will likely be considered in that investigation. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has opened his own investigation as well.

Ries said Trump should not “gamble” with the existing Secret Service leadership and instead should hire private security.

“Americans lost confidence in the DOJ and FBI long ago,” Ries said. “The FBI quickly removed evidence from the Butler, PA, scene and have not answered questions regarding that assassination attempt. DOJ, the FBI, and the Secret Service all need significant house cleaning of poor managers and misplaced priorities. Americans need many questions answered regarding both assassination attempts. Hopefully, Florida Governor DeSantis’ investigation of yesterday’s attempt will yield significant information.”

Ragone placed responsibility at the feet of Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, saying Trump has not been given enough resources for his protection.

“I think our leadership, from Homeland Security to the leadership of the Secret Service down, are highly biased against Trump, and I just don't think they provide him what he needs and what they could provide him,” Ragone said. “And I think that's showing again on this one, because [the agent] could have, very, very easily, you know … missed that barrel, and it may be another situation where he's getting fire from a rifle.”

President Joe Biden himself told reporters that the U.S. Secret Service “needs more help” though did not give specifics when pressed.

“I think the Congress should respond to their needs, if they, in fact, need more Service people,” Biden said on his way to Air Force One. “So, that’s what we’re going to be talking about.”

Sunday's incident occurred two months after Trump was the target of an assassination attempt at a campaign rally in Butler, Pa. Trump was grazed by a bullet in his ear in the Pennsylvania shooting just two days before the start of the Republican National Convention. The suspect in the earlier assassination attempt was shot and killed at the scene.

The Secret Service was widely criticized for its lax security efforts after the Pennsylvania attempt. Kimberly Cheatle, the director of the U.S. Secret Service, resigned under heavy pressure. 

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