The Secret Service will enhance security measures surrounding former US President Donald Trump following two assassination attempts within the last two months.
The Secret Service will increase security measures around former US President Donald Trump in response to recent assassination attempts targeting the Republican presidential nominee, NBC News reported Monday, citing a Secret Service official.
Trump was the target of an attack during a rally in Pennsylvania in July when a lone gunman fired shots at the former president, grazing his ear and killing one audience member while injuring two others.
Earlier this month, another potential assassin, 58-year-old Ryan Wesley Routh, was apprehended by the Secret Service after being spotted near a Trump-owned golf course in Florida, allegedly attempting to shoot the former president. The potential assassin was found in possession of a Soviet-made rifle and a backpack containing armor plates.
“Given recent events, the Secret Service is taking a heightened posture in its protection of the former president,” an agency official told NBC News.
According to the outlet, the new security measures have already been implemented, and their effects were visible Monday when Trump disembarked his plane in Pennsylvania with a Secret Service agent closely trailing behind him.
Last week, the US House of Representatives approved legislation to bolster Secret Service protections for all presidential nominees, including Trump, Vice President Kamala Harris, and their running mates.
Specifically, the new legislation requires the Secret Service to apply “the same standards for determining the number of agents required to protect presidents, vice presidents, and major presidential and vice presidential candidates.”
“We as a federal government have a responsibility to ensure the safety and the well-being of these candidates. One of them is going to be president, and the election should be decided by voters at the ballot box — not by an assassin’s bullet,”
Congressman Mike Lawler, who introduced the legislation, told reporters Friday. “If the argument by the Secret Service is that they don’t have enough resources or they don’t have enough manpower, then that needs to be addressed immediately,” he said.