Breitbart News spoke to sources who criticized the Secret Service’s supplemental approach to protection details following Saturday’s assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump.
The sources indicated that protective details for a former president are not anywhere as extensive as the details that protect a sitting president. Because of this, when a former president travels or holds rallies, such as the one Trump was holding on Saturday in Butler, Pennsylvania, the Secret Service uses “supplemental” protective personnel to fill the gaps that exist in the existing protective structure.
One source explained that this means the Secret Secret relies on using other Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agents for protection, as well as local police and/or local advanced units and advanced unit personnel. While DHS agents used by Secret Service may be excellent at the jobs for which they are trained, the source noted that protective detail work is not what they were trained to do.
We spoke with one of the sources about the police officer who climbed up on the roof on which the would-be assassin, Thomas Crooks, was waiting, but allegedly took no direct action against him. (The Associated Press reported, “One local police officer climbed to the roof and encountered Crooks, who pointed his rifle at the officer. The officer retreated down the ladder, and Crooks quickly took a shot toward Trump.”)
The source indicated that the fact that the roof was not cleared and did not appear to be monitored and then was checked by an officer who climbed the ladder only to climb back down point to the inherent weakness in the “supplemental” protective approach.
The Secret Service released a statement following the attempted assassination, in which the agency assured the public that it “added protective resources & technology & capabilities as part of the increased campaign travel tempo” for Trump’s Butler rally.
The Washington Examiner noted that former Secret Service agent and NYPD officer Dan Bongino responded to the Secret Services’ statement by telling Fox News, “This is the best technology we have? Really? To let a sniper 150 yards away from the potential next president shoot a piece of his ear off?”
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio, a member of Gun Owners of America, and the director of global marketing for Lone Star Hunts. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal in 2010 and has a Ph.D. in Military History. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.
