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Secret Service refused multiple requests for greater security for Trump – report

After initially denying claims it refused to beef up support for the former president, Secret Service issues clarification citing its ‘vast, dynamic’ mission.

By World Israel News Staff

The Secret Service refused multiple requests for greater resources to protect former president and 2024 Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, The Washington Post reported Saturday.

In a report published one week after a 20-year-old sniper managed to wound the former president in his right ear at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, the Post cited four sources who claimed that “top officials” at the Secret Service denied requests for more personnel and other resources to guard Trump.

The rejected requests went back as far as two years ago, the report said, and continued until recently, leading up to last week’s assassination attempt.

The Secret Service has come under fire for failing to prevent Thomas Matthew Crooks from positioning himself with an AR-15-style assault rifle on a roof some 150 yards away from the stage with a direct line of sight to the former president.

Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi initially denied the allegations.

“The assertion that a member of the former president’s security team requested additional security resources that the U.S. Secret Service or the Department of Homeland Security rebuffed is absolutely false,” he said in a statement on the Sunday after the shooting.

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But Guglielmi later appeared to backtrack following questions from the Post, issuing a second, more nuanced statement.

“The Secret Service has a vast, dynamic, and intricate mission,” Guglielmi said.

“Every day we work in a dynamic threat environment to ensure our protectees are safe and secure across multiple events, travel, and other challenging environments. We execute a comprehensive and layered strategy to balance personnel, technology, and specialized operational needs.”

“In some instances where specific Secret Service specialized units or resources were not provided, the agency made modifications to ensure the security of the protectee. This may include utilizing state or local partners to provide specialized functions or otherwise identifying alternatives to reduce public exposure of a protectee.”

The Secret Service had earlier this year come under fire for its refusal hitherto to provide security to independent third-party presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is currently averaging 8.5% in general election polling according to the RealClearPolitics rolling average.

In the wake of last week’s shooting, however, Kennedy received a security detail from the Secret Service.

“I hate to dumb it down this much but it is a simple case of supply and demand,” explained former agent Bill Gage in an interview with the Post. “The requests get turned down routinely.”