A former Secret Service agent said that the assassination attempt on Donald Trump represented a “failure” for his security team.
Tim McCarthy, who in 1981 defended then-President Ronald Reagan from a gunman, was giving his assessment of the Saturday shooting to Chicago-based outlet WGN-TV.
“It’s a failure. Plain and simple,” McCarthy said. “When President Regan was shot, that was a failure too.”
“Any time a protectee is harmed, there’s something that has to change,” he added. “You have to critically look at what happened, why it happened, and how it can be prevented in the future.”
Despite this, he said the service had been doing “almost everything that is humanly possible” to prevent potential attacks, but that there “is no full-proof security anywhere in this world.”
Trump had been speaking at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania when the shooting took place. He was seen defiantly raising his fist with a bloodied ear before being ushered away from the scene by the Secret Service.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said that a bullet had “pierced the upper part” of his right ear.
The FBI has since identified the shooter as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, who was killed at the rally.
McCarthy, who reportedly retired from the Secret Service in 1993, said he did not have intimate details of Trump’s security detail, but said it was likely “darn close” to what President Joe Biden receives.
He said that for a president, security teams sweep the area and secure the building while obscuring the view using “different types of shielding” such as campaign events or banners. They would also rearrange the podium to block views from outside the secured area.
“Now, in some cases, it’s almost impossible to do that, but that’s why the Secret Service has counter-sniper teams. You survey the buildings that would have an overview of where the protectee is going to be,” he added.
In this instance, he said any counter-sniper team “obviously or possibly” did not see the shooter.
As a last resort, agents shield the protectee from attack.
Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement that the “DHS and the Secret Service are working with law enforcement partners to respond to and investigate the shooting.”
“We are engaged with President Biden, former President Trump, and their campaigns, and are taking every possible measure to ensure their safety and security.”
Whilst the assassination attempt may result in “less visibility out in the public for former president Trump,” McCarthy doubted that the assassination attempt would deter him too much from his scheduled outings.
The Secret Service is “probably gonna have to hold his horses to keep him from getting out into the public right away,” he said.
And Trump has already signaled his intentions to make his next public appearance.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump thanked people for their “thoughts and prayers” following the attack, and said that he was looking forward “to speaking to our Great Nation this week from Wisconsin,” where the Republican National Convention is set to take place.
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