Secret Service officials refused to provide additional security for Donald Trump in the two years leading up to last weekend’s assassination, a report says.
The damning report revealed that the former president’s request for more agents and magnetometers at the events he attended was denied.
Four insiders said The Washington Post that each request was rejected by senior officials. Senior Secret Service officials reportedly claimed that the agency lacked the resources Trump was asking for.
It has also emerged that Trump was receiving less protection, after losing the election and his bid for a second term in 2020, than other former presidents and presidential candidates from the major parties.
These revelations came to light in the wake of the attempted assassination of Trump, 78, last Saturday at his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Secret Service officials refused to provide additional security for Donald Trump in the two years leading up to last weekend’s assassination.
Thomas Matthew Crooks managed to bypass security measures at the rally and shoot the presidential candidate.
The attackers managed to graze Trump’s ear with a bullet, leaving him with a minor gunshot wound that could have been fatal, had the former president not moved his head at the last moment.
The Secret Service’s botched job has been described as “a massive security failure” and many are calling for the agency’s director, Kimberly Cheatle, to resign.
The criminals’ attempt to assassinate Trump was made possible by multiple instances of negligence on the part of security agents.
Crooks was somehow able to fly a drone over the rally site on the same day of the event, which investigators believe was an effort on his part to assess the situation and prepare for his attempted murder.
He was also seen and then monitored by police at the Trump rally site (because they sensed something was wrong) and yet they managed to lose sight of him before the massacre unfolded, according to reports.
A report revealed that the former president’s request for more agents and magnetometers at the events he attended was denied.
Witnesses have since claimed they warned police about a man armed with an AR-style rifle who was seen climbing to the top of a building, but Crooks was still able to open fire from the roof he had access to.
It could be the worst security failure since President Ronald Reagan was shot and wounded in a Washington hotel in 1981.
They now face a torrent of questions over how the first assassination attempt in 43 years was allowed to happen.
Politicians, law enforcement and critics are demanding answers about how Crooks managed to get so close to a protest that was surrounded by so much security.
Last Saturday night, FBI Special Agent Kevin Rojek issued a statement saying it was “amazing” that Crooks managed to fire so many shots.
It has been suggested that routine checks would have eliminated all potential threats, calling into question the level of the Secret Service under the current administration.
The Secret Service’s botched job has been described as “a massive security failure” and many are calling for the resignation of the agency’s director, Kimberly Cheatle (pictured).
In fact, furious US senators took the liberty of confronting Cheatle while she was hiding behind her own security agents.
Her officers protected her after senators chased her through the halls of the RNC and demanded that she explain how a gunman could clearly have shot Trump.
Cheatle was at the Milwaukee convention hall to oversee security arrangements Wednesday night, just hours after calling on senators to cover their butts over the shooting in Pennsylvania on Saturday night.
Sens. John Barrasso of Wyoming and Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee led the charge, complaining that they had not had a chance to ask Cheatle questions during the call.
Barrasso, frustrated, then issued an ultimatum to the head of security.
“You brought him to the brink of death,” Barrasso shouted at Cheatle. “So resignation or full explanation.”
The chase continued down a hallway and up a flight of stairs before finally ending when Cheatle ran into a bathroom and his security detail blocked his pursuers from entering.
Senator Blackburn later posted a video of the incident.