U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle assured the nation her agents “reviewed and strengthened” plans to keep Trump and his supporters safe in southern Wisconsin as the Republican National Committee gets underway Monday, only two days after the candidate its expected to nominate for president narrowly survived an assassination attempt.
“The incident in Pennsylvania has understandably led to questions about potential updates or changes to the security for the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee,” Cheatle said in a statement released Monday. “The U.S. Secret Service, in conjunction with our Federal, state and local law enforcement and public safety partners, designs operational security plans for National Special Security Events (NSSE) to be dynamic in order to respond to a kinetic security environment and the most up-to-date intelligence from our partners.”
Investigators are still trying to figure out how a 20-year-old gunman got an unobstructed shot at Donald Trump from a rooftop roughly 160 yards away during a rally in western Pennsylvania Saturday.
The Secret Service came under heavy criticism Saturday after a bullet fired by alleged would-be assassin Thomas Crooks grazed Trump’s ear and at least three other shots struck supporters listening to the presumptive nominee speak. One audience member was killed.
“I am confident in the security plan our Secret Service RNC coordinator and our partners have put in place, which we have reviewed and strengthened in the wake of Saturday’s shooting,” Cheatle continued. “In addition to the additional security enhancements we provided former President Trump’s detail in June, we have also implemented changes to his security detail since Saturday to ensure his continued protection for the convention and the remainder of the campaign.”
Trump supporters including billionaire Elon Musk called for Cheatle to be reprimanded on his social media platform X, which was rife with disinformation including the repeated misidentification of the shooter over the weekend.
“Extreme incompetence or it was deliberate,” Musk speculated about Saturday’s security lapse. “Either way, the SS leadership must resign.”
CNN reported Monday that a counter-sniper team was supposed to have been covering the building the gunman climbed, then fired several shots from during Saturday’s assassination attempt.
NBC News said The House Oversight Committee planned to hold a bipartisan member briefing with the Secret Service Tuesday.
Trump arrived in Milwaukee around 5:45 p.m. Sunday, according to local station WISN.
“Based on yesterday’s terrible events, I was going to delay my trip to Wisconsin, and The Republican National Convention, by two days, but have just decided that I cannot allow a ‘shooter,’ or potential assassin, to force change to scheduling, or anything else,” he posted on his Truth Social media site Sunday.
Trump is expected to close out the convention with a Thursday night speech his team says will focus on “unity.”
President Joe Biden, who’s expected to once more accept the Democratic party’s nomination in Chicago next week, condemned the attack on his opponent in a primetime address Sunday calling for an end to political violence.
