Washington: Former US President Donald Trump has the greatest degree of security, according to US Secret Service Acting Director Ronald Rowe, who credits the service for repelling an attempted assassination attempt on the former President two days earlier.
“The subject, who did not have line of sight to the former President, fled the scene. He did not fire or get off any shots at our agents. With reports of gunfire, the former President’s close protection detail immediately evacuated the President to a safe location,” Rowe said.
“The protective methodologies of the Secret Service were effective yesterday.”
The remarks come following the second assassination attempt against Trump in two months, when Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, lodged his rifle through a fence at a Florida golf course where Trump was playing.
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The incident happened at the time when the Secret Service is under intensive examination of its methods following the last assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, and as numerous Republican voices called on Monday for the agency to boost Trump’s level of security to that of President Joe Biden.
Rowe emphasised that Trump is receiving the greatest level of protection and that the system is functioning, citing Biden’s plea for increased security for his then-campaign adversary as a factor in stopping the potential attack.
“The former President’s protective apparatus allowed for the early identification of the threat and led to a safe evacuation. The increased assets directed by President Biden were in place yesterday,” he said.
“There’s a lot of tactical assets in place, things that have been put in place as a result of what happened 60 days ago. Those elements are working.”
That includes bolstering what he described as a “layered approach to protection” that involved screening different points along the golf course before Trump’s arrival.
“The agent who was visually sweeping the area of the sixth screen saw the subject armed with what he perceived to be a rifle and immediately discharged his firearm,” Rowe said, adding that Trump was still “several hundred yards and several holes away.”
Nonetheless, the agency will undoubtedly face criticism for failing to see Routh until he was relatively near to the former President, given that he camped in the vicinity for around 12 hours before Trump arrived.
It is unknown how Routh became aware of Trump’s location, which was an ” off-the-record” move that was not on the former President’s public calendar.
“The fact that they didn’t know that person was there, and that they were there for as long as they were, raises some real concerns about how they’re thinking about protecting the perimeter… which sometimes can come very close to the principle you’re trying to protect,” Andrew McCabe, former deputy director of the FBI, said during an appearance on CNN.
Rowe said the agency would rethink some aspects of its approach.
“We need to look at what our protective methodology is. We need to get out of a reactive model and get to a readiness model,” he said, adding that the agency should prepare for “another geopolitical event” that could throw the US into conflict.
He likewise said the Secret Service is in the middle of discussions with lawmakers about their resource needs, saying the agency needs funding to support hiring additional agents.
“That requires us to be able to have the funding to be able to hire more people. You can’t just give me money and say, ‘Hey, we’re going to ensure everybody gets overtime.’ Because the men and women of the Secret Service right now, we are redlining them,” Rowe said.
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