Secret Service under pressure after assassination attempt on Trump

Under pressure after the assassination attempt against Donald Trump, the prestigious Secret Service, in charge of of the protection of American personalities, affirmed Monday that he would collaborate "fully" &agrav; the independent investigation to examine how a shooter could have ended up so close to the ex-president.

Mystery still reigns over the motive of the assailant Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, who was shot dead. Armed with a semi-automatic rifle, he fired several shots on Saturday from the roof of a building located some 150 meters from the Republican presidential candidate at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania.

Donald Trump was injured in the shooting and said he had the top of his ear “pierced” by a bullet. The photos of the former president with blood streaming down his face, his fist raised, have already made history.

One spectator was killed and two others seriously injured.

The Secret Service, whose elite agents are responsible, among other things, for the protection of presidents and former presidents, “works with all relevant local, state and federal agencies to understand what happened, how it happened and how we can prevent something like this from happening again,” its director, Kimberly Cheatle, said in a statement.

“We understand the importance of the independent review announced yesterday by President Biden and we will fully participate in it,” she added, specifying that she would also collaborate with the relevant Congressional committees on the subject.

Democratic President Joe Biden said on Sunday that he had ordered an “independent” investigation into the circumstances of the assassination attempt against Donald Trump, whom he faces at the polls on November 5.

He also claimed to have asked the head of the Secret Service to review “all security measures” during the Republican convention, which is being held in the north of the country from Monday to Thursday and during which M . Trump must officially be nominated as his party's candidate.

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– “Amazing” –

Kimberly Cheatle s' said Monday “confident” in the plan developed for the convention, which was “reviewed and strengthened after” the events of Saturday, she said.

The Secret Service faces multiple questions and the pressure only increases.

He will have to respond in particular to the broadcast of video images of people present during the meeting, surprised by the presence of the shooter on the roof and trying to alert the police at least a minute before the shots according to CNN.

The same channel affirmed Monday that the building where the attacker was located had not been combed through by the Secret Service, which relied on 'after her on local law enforcement to ensure security at this location.

Members of the Secret Service ahead of the Republican convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (north), July 13, 2024 © AFP – ANGELA WEISS

However, according to NBC News, this same roof had been identified by the Secret Service as presenting a “potential vulnerability”.

“It is not “You don't need to be a security expert to see the failures here,” Ohio Republican MP Mike Turner, head of the House Intelligence Committee, criticized on CNN.

The fact that the assailant “was able to fire shots when he had already been identified, when his position had been identified, is simply confusing and astonishing,” he said. insisted.

In an interview with the New York Post, Donald Trump described his experience as “very surreal”.

“I shouldn't be here, I should be dead,” he said.

On Monday, on his Truth Social platform, he estimated that It was “imperative” that the Secret Service provide protection to another presidential candidate: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whose uncle, President “JFK,” and father, Democratic candidate Bobby Kennedy, were murdered.

“Given the history of the Kennedy family, this is clearly the right thing to do!”, he wrote.

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