The Secret Service reportedly asked former President Donald Trump to nix outdoor rallies after the agency failed to protect him from an assassination attempt, Breitbart reported. Trump was wounded in the right ear at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13.
Anonymous sources claim that the Secret Service is urging Trump to move his popular rallies to indoor venues. Following this advice, the Trump campaign reportedly said it is attempting to book "basketball arenas and other large spaces" for upcoming events.
Trump has good reason to follow this advice after the Secret Service allowed 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks to fire on the former president. Trump sustained a wound from "a bullet that pierced the upper part" of his ear, which outraged the campaign.
During a congressional hearing this week, Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle admitted that her agency dropped the ball on his security detail. Cheatle resigned following her appearance before the House Oversight and Accountability Committee on Tuesday.
Trump's campaign has agreed to the move because it's easier for security personnel "to control who comes through a finite number of doors." However, the change does pose other challenges for the Trump campaign.
Renting indoor spaces has higher costs associated with it, which means more funds are drained from the campaign coffers for the same rallies. Moreover, one campaign official pointed out that it also changes the impact of these rallies.
"Obviously, with an indoor venue, you have a capacity. It doesn’t pack the same punch," the anonymous campaign official said.
"There’s something about being at one of those outdoor rallies," the unnamed official added. Indeed, Trump has built his reputation on drawing large, energetic crowds that motivate his loyal supporters.
However, it seems that the Secret Service is either unable to or not interested in making sure the former president is safe anymore. If that's the case, Trump has more to worry about than just his rallies.
The agency in charge of protecting the former president is guilty of profound failures that almost cost Trump his life. In the aftermath of the shooting, several shocking facts have come to light about the state of Secret Service protection.
According to the New York Post, Cheatle admitted that her agency made several blunders that led to the assassination attempt. One of the most notorious was her claim that the roof Crooks reportedly fired his shots from was unguarded because it was "sloped" and became a "safety factor."
Because of this decision, Crooks had a perfect vantage point just 130 years away from the former president. The gunman was killed by Secret Service counter-snipers, but not before wounding Trump, killing one man, and wounding two others.
Crooks also wasn't stopped despite Secret Service spotting the young man more than an hour before Trump took the stage. Rather than telling the former president to wait before going on, the agency allowed the one person they were charged with protecting to walk right into the would-be assassin's sites.
Trump relies on his outdoor rallies to drum up enthusiasm among voters. He shouldn't have to curtail them because the Secret Service didn't adequately perform its duties.
