Secret Service Boosting Protection For Biden, Trump After Botched Assassination Attempt

The U.S. Secret Service (USSS) is enhancing security for President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump after a gunman nearly assassinated Trump in Pennsylvania over the weekend, Bloomberg News reported Monday.

The USSS will bolster protective details for both men after a lone gunman grazed Trump’s ear with a bullet, killed a rally attendee and left another severely injured on Saturday, according to Bloomberg News. The service has drawn considerable scrutiny for its response to the threat on Saturday, with questions swirling about how an armed individual was able to access a rooftop in close proximity to the event site with a clear line at the former president’s podium without being confronted or disrupted before he opened fire.

One law enforcement officer reportedly encountered the shooter on the roof of the nearby building before shots were fired, according to The Associated Press. However, the gunman reportedly turned around to aim the weapon at that officer, who subsequently retreated from the roof before the gunman took aim at Trump and opened fire.

So far, USSS has yet to comprehensively address specific points about its approach to securing the event site and other oversights that may have allowed the gunman to come within inches of assassinating Trump. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas also said Monday that independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — to whom the Biden administration had previously denied USSS protection — will also start having agents protecting him in the wake of the Saturday shooting.

“Adjustments have been made to the former president’s detail, to the current president’s detail, as well as to the vice president’s detail,” Mayorkas told reporters Monday, according to Bloomberg. Mayorkas added that the USSS will consider the current “threat environment” going forward, that he retains “100% confidence” in the USSS and that Republican Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance — Trump’s running mate — will be receiving the “appropriate level” of security.

On Sunday, Biden ordered a “thorough and swift” review of the failed assassination attempt, and Republican lawmakers are also moving to investigate the shooting.

USSS Director Kimberly Cheatle also released a lengthy statement on Monday addressing the failed assassination attempt.

“Since the shooting, I have been in constant contact with Secret Service personnel in Pennsylvania who worked to maintain the integrity of the crime scene until the FBI assumed its role as the lead investigating agency into the assassination attempt. I have also been coordinating with the protective detail for former President Trump and have briefed President Biden on the details of the incident.