Key Points
- The Secret Service has been criticised over a security lapse that allowed a shooter to fire at Donald Trump.
- Trump was injured in the assassination attempt while the shooter and a bystander were killed.
- The Secret Service says it will cooperate with an independent review to understand the security failure.
Facing growing criticism over a massive security failure, the United States Secret Service has vowed to cooperate with an independent review after a shooter was able to open fire on Donald Trump.
The 78-year-old former US president was injured but survived an assassination attempt at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday (local time), a brazen attack that shocked a nation already deeply polarised ahead of an election in November.
“The Secret Service is working with all involved federal, state and local agencies to understand what happened, how it happened, and how we can prevent an incident like this from ever taking place again,” the agency’s director Kimberly Cheatle said in a statement.
“We understand the importance of the independent review announced by President Joe Biden yesterday and will participate fully,” Cheatle added.
Trump was speaking at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania when multiple shots rang out.
He clutched his ear, with blood visible on his ear and cheek, then ducked to the floor as Secret Service agents swarmed onto the podium, surrounding him and rushing him to a nearby vehicle.
The shooter and a bystander were killed, and two spectators were injured.
Biden ordered a full review of security at the rally, as well as at this week’s Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where Trump will be crowned the party’s presidential nominee.
The Secret Service’s failure to stop the assassination attempt will be investigated in a new independent review. Source: Getty / Brendan Smialowski/AFP
Criticism of Secret Service conduct
The Secret Service faces intense scrutiny over how a gunman aiming an assault rifle was able to take position on a roof some 150m from one of the most protected political figures on the planet.
Those questions grew louder when phone footage emerged of people sighting the gunman and trying to warn security before he opened fire.
Cheatle said that the Secret Service had responded swiftly to the shooting in Pennsylvania.
“Secret Service personnel on the ground moved quickly during the incident, with our counter sniper team neutralising the shooter and our agents implementing protective measures to ensure the safety of former president Donald Trump,” she said.
The Secret Service designs plans for major events “to respond to a kinetic security environment and the most up-to-date intelligence”, her statement added.
The director said she felt “confident” in the security plan for Trump at the upcoming Milwaukee convention, stating it had been “reviewed and strengthened in the wake of Saturday’s shooting”.
Biden has also ordered Secret Service protection for independent candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr, an environmental lawyer and long-time vaccine sceptic who has no chance of winning in November, but whose candidacy could potentially sway close contests in key swing states.
Kennedy’s uncle, former president John F Kennedy, was assassinated in Dallas, Texas in 1963. Five years later, the candidate’s father, Robert, was shot to death in Los Angeles.
The US Secret Service is responsible for the safety of the president, vice president and former presidents, and their families, as well as major election candidates and visiting foreign heads of state.
