Biden says Secret Service ‘needs more help’ in wake of second Trump assassination attempt
Joe Biden has said the US Secret Service “needs more help” in the wake of a second assassination attempt on Donald Trump.
The US president called on Congress, responsible for approving funds for the agency to provide protection for current and former presidents, to “respond to their need”.
Speaking to reporters outside the White House, Mr Biden said: “One thing I want to make clear is that the service needs more help, and I think Congress should respond to their need.”
He suggested the Secret Service “may decide whether they need more personnel or not” but declined to elaborate further on what additional help may be required.
Mr Biden, 81, president, who is travelling to Pennsylvania on Monday, said that he and Kamala Harris, the vice president, would be receiving regular updates on the incident throughout the day. He added of his predecessor: “Thank God the president is OK.”
Trump was said to be in good spirits following the apparent foiled attempt on his life on Sunday.
The 78-year-old was on the fifth hole of his golf course in West Palm Beach in southern Florida when one of his protective detail spotted a rifle barrel and “immediately engaged” the gunman, according to the local sheriff.
The person fled in a black Nissan SUV and was later arrested by local law enforcement. The suspect, identified as Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, was taken into custody and was due to appear in court on Monday.
Trump praised the Secret Service and other law enforcement personnel for doing an “absolutely outstanding” job in keeping him safe.
Despite the keen eyes of the Secret Service agent who was able to prevent any attempt on the former president’s life, the incident has raised fresh questions about the agency’s ability to protect its charges.
The Secret Service’s advance planning was heavily criticised following a shooting at a Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13. The Republican candidate’s ear was grazed by a bullet in that incident, a rally-goer was killed and two others seriously injured.
Trump’s protective detail was significantly enhanced in the wake of the assassination attempt, with more agents and on-the-ground intelligence.
But the fact that a gunman was able to train a rifle with a scope within as little as 300 yards of the former president on Sunday suggests many of the flaws exposed by the Pennsylvania incident are yet to be fully addressed.
Experts noted that the Secret Service’s role has become ever more challenging in the country’s increasingly fraught political environment. However, one major obstacle to protecting Trump is the scale of the security cordon needed around him, particularly at his golf resorts, which have large perimeters dotted with shrubbery.
The local sheriff, Ric Bradshaw, noted these security vulnerabilities and suggested that, if Trump was a sitting president, “we would have had this entire golf course surrounded”.
As a former office holder, Trump receives a smaller protective detail than Mr Biden. There are calls for that to change in light of the two attempts on the ex-president’s life.
Senior figures on both sides of the aisle in Congress have argued for scrutiny of the Secret Service’s approach and demand answers as to how a gunman was able to get within close proximity of Trump.
Richard Blumenthal, a leading Democratic Senator and the chair of the panel investigating the security failures at Butler, said the facts “certainly warrant very close attention and scrutiny”. He added: “Certainly a second serious incident, apparently involving an assault weapon, is deeply alarming and appalling.”
Republican senator Lindsey Graham, a close Trump ally, called for the Secret Service to be removed from the jurisdiction of the Department of Homeland Security “and back to the Treasury Department, where they had more focus”. He said: “Also, it is time to increase resources.”
