‘Took a bullet’: Secret Service denied Donald Trump extra security for two years
Donald Trump’s son Eric is demanding action over the security failures that almost led to his father’s murder, as a new legal threat emerged to the move against Joe Biden. Follow updates.
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Donald Trump’s son Eric has called for the Secret Service boss to resign “in absolute disgrace” over the agency’s failure to prevent the attempted assassination of the former president.
As Secret Service boss Kimberly Cheatle prepared to face a congressional inquiry on Monday (local time), in what Republicans said would be “must-see TV”, Eric Trump also sought to blame US President Joe Biden for her remaining in her post.
The agency has been rocked by a string of revelations about how 20-year-old sniper Thomas Crooks was observed acting suspiciously but not apprehended before he opened fire on Trump, as well as reports that it had denied previous requests to bolster the former president’s security.
“The director of the Secret Service should resign in absolute disgrace,” Trump’s son said.
“The fact that the Biden administration could allow a former president, and very likely a future president, to take a bullet through the ear and there is no accountability and a person still in their job just shows how disgraceful and inept the administration is.”
Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson flagged the creation of a bipartisan congressional task force to investigate the shooting – in which a Trump supporter was killed – as Ms Cheatle was hauled in to face questions on Monday (local time).
“I think it’ll be must-see TV. She’s got a lot to answer for,” Mr Johnson said.
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LEGAL TWIST IN BIDEN DRAMA
As the internal war within the Democratic Party continued to rage over Mr Biden’s candidacy against Trump for November’s election, Mr Johnson threatened legal action if the party tried to ditch the 81-year-old.
“Every state has its own system, and in some of these, it’s not possible to simply just switch out a candidate,” he said.
“I think in states where it can be contested, I expect that it will be, and they’ll have an interesting battle on their hands.”
The President remained in Covid isolation on Sunday (local time) as more Democratic members of Congress called on him to abandon his bid for a second term, including high-profile Democrat-turned-independent senator Joe Manchin.
“I came to a decision with a heavy heart that I think it’s time to pass the torch,” he said.
But Mr Biden’s campaign team remained defiant, releasing a letter from the chairs of the Democratic Party in seven key battleground states that reaffirmed their commitment to him.
“We understand the anxiety. But the best antidote to political anxiety is taking action,” they said.
“President Biden has proven he can beat Donald Trump if we all do the work.”
Minnesota congressman Dean Phillips, who launched an ill-fated challenge to Mr Biden during the primary process, said he was “ignoring the truth” about his age and chances of defeating Trump.
While the President has vowed to return to the campaign trail this week, the rebellion is set to intensify again when members of Congress return to Washington DC.
It came as Lindy Li, a member of his campaign’s finance committee, confirmed that major donors had “fallen off the face of the earth” amid the fight about the viability of his candidacy.
SECRET SERVICE ADMITS REJECTING TRUMP SECURITY ASK
Donald Trump has told supporters he “took a bullet for democracy” in his first rally since the failed attempt on his life.
The presidential nominee got a standing ovation from ecstatic fans in the battleground state of Michigan as he was welcomed by running mate JD Vance.
Trump took to the stage at the Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids wearing a smaller bandage on the upper part of his injured ear, rather than the large square one he has worn since the shooting.
Hours after Trump took to the stage, the Secret Service sensationally acknowledged that it had rejected Trump’s requests for additional security in the two years before the assassination attempt.
The admission was a reversal from earlier statements by the agency denying that such requests had been rebuffed.
Anthony Guglielmi, a spokesman for the Secret Service, told The New York Times the denied requests for additional resources were not specifically for the rally in Butler, where Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire on the former US president in one of the most shocking security breaches in decades.
“What a day it was,” Trump said. “I stand before you only by the grace of almighty God. I shouldn’t be here. I shouldn’t be here.
“I took a bullet for democracy,” he said to raucous cheers from the crowd.
TRUMP BLASTS DEMOCRATS
The former US president joked about the Democratic meltdown amid pressure on Joe Biden to stand down to cheers from the audience.
“They have no idea who their candidate is, and neither do we,” he said with a laugh. “That’s a problem.”
Trump spoke more lightheartedly about the assassination attempt than he did at his Republican National Convention speech.
Talking about the immigration chart he turned to look at before the bullets flew past his head in Butler, he said, “I owe immigration my life”.
The former US president joked that he loved the chart so much “I think I’m going to sleep with it.”
Trump spoke after Vance took the podium and immediately slammed Vice President Kamala Harris.
Vance asked the crowd: “What has she done other than collect a cheque from her political offices?”
He continued: “She did serve as border tsar during the biggest disaster open borders we ever had in this country.
“Let’s get President Trump back there, close back that border, and bring some common sense and security to this country.”
The Secret Service ramped up security for the Michigan rally. The enclosed 12,000-capacity sports facility in Grand Rapids allows security more complete control of the area in the aftermath of the Butler rally assassination attempt.
Earlier, former White House physician and current Congressman Ronny Jackson said Trump was “doing well” and recovering after the shooting.
The gunman’s bullet came “less than a quarter of an inch” from entering the former US president’s head, Dr Jackson said in a statement.
“As reported and witnessed by the entire world, he sustained a gunshot wound to the right ear from a high-powered rifle used by the would-be assassin,” wrote Texan Senator Jackson, noting he examined Trump the night he was shot.
“The bullet track produced a 2cm wide wound that extended down to the cartilaginous surface of the ear,” Jackson wrote.
“There was initially significant bleeding, followed by marked swelling of the entire upper ear.”
The swelling has since resolved, said Jackson, who thanked the medical staff who initially treated Trump at Butler Memorial Hospital in Pennsylvania, where he received a CT scan during his evaluation.
TRUMP’S CALL WITH ZELENSKYY
“President Zelenskyy of Ukraine and I had a very good phone call earlier today,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social. He congratulated me on a very successful Republican National Convention and becoming the Republican nominee for President of the United States,”
“He condemned the heinous assassination attempt last Saturday and remarked about the American people coming together in the spirit of Unity during these times.”
Trump continued, “I appreciate President Zelenskyy for reaching out because I, as your next President of the United States, will bring peace to the world and end the war that has cost so many lives and devastated countless innocent families.
“Both sides will be able to come together and negotiate a deal that ends the violence and paves a path forward to prosperity.”
In a post on X after the call, Mr Zelenskyy said he condemned the “shocking assassination attempt in Pennsylvania”.
“I wished him strength and absolute safety in the future,” he said.
“I noted the vital bipartisan and bicameral American support for protecting our nation’s freedom and independence.
“We agreed with President Trump to discuss at a personal meeting what steps can make peace fair and truly lasting.”
BIDENS PLOT EXIT PLAN
Joe Biden’s family and advisers have begun discussing how and when he could announce his exit from the US election race, despite the Covid-stricken President maintaining he would soon return to the campaign trail.
Multiple US outlets reported that a potential exit plan for the 81-year-old was in the works, although it was unclear whether it would unfold before First Lady Jill Biden flew to Paris to represent the US at the Olympics this week.
Mr Biden’s campaign spokesman Michael Tyler said the oldest president in history would be campaigning “in earnest” this week, amid reports of potential trips to Georgia and Texas.
“As soon as we have the green light, we are going to be back out,” he said, as the President recovered from Covid in isolation at his Delaware home.
But an aide to Mr Biden told Axios: “It’s a fairly universal sentiment internally that we have reached the end of the road.”
NBC reported that members of his family had “discussed what an exit from his campaign might look like” as Democratic leaders ramped up the pressure for Mr Biden to drop out.
His family expected he would want to make the call “on his own timing and with a carefully calculated plan in place”, according to NBC, as CNN reported Democrats were solidifying around the prospect of Vice President Kamala Harris taking over as their candidate.
The New York Times similarly reported that people close to the President had begun contemplating dates and venues for “a possible announcement that he is stepping aside”.
Mr Biden is due to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington DC on Wednesday (local time), while his wife is scheduled to leave the same day for Paris, complicating the timing for any move for him to quit the race.
Democratic Party chiefs have also been pushing to begin a virtual roll call to formally nominate their candidate on August 1, sparking fears from congressional leaders opposed to Mr Biden’s candidacy that he was trying to “run out the clock”.
A day after Trump was officially confirmed as his party’s candidate at the Republican convention in Milwaukee, Democrats fed up with Mr Biden’s insistence on staying in the race unleashed a co-ordinated assault on his candidacy.
More than a dozen Democratic members of Congress called for him to step aside, the single biggest show of force since the rebellion began last month amid fears the 81-year-old could not defeat Trump.
Massachusetts representative Seth Moulton, who had already called for Mr Biden to walk away, revealed he “didn’t seem to recognise me” during last month’s D-Day commemoration.
“I have to admit that what I saw in Normandy was part of a deeper problem,” he said.
Ms Harris told nervous party donors: “We are going to win this election … We know which candidate in this election puts the American people first: Our President, Joe Biden.”
But the call ended abruptly after five minutes without the Vice President taking questions.
Silicon Valley billionaire Michael Moritz declared that “the clock has run out” on Mr Biden’s candidacy, after Hollywood producer Jeffrey Katzenberg – a top campaign adviser – earlier told the President directly that critical fundraising would soon dry up.
Mr Biden was reportedly fuming and increasingly resentful at the orchestrated move against him led by congressional leaders as well as former president Barack Obama, whom he served as vice president for eight years.
He released a statement which he said he would “look forward to getting back on the campaign trail next week.
Together, as a party and as a country, we can and will defeat (Trump) at the ballot box”.
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Originally published as ‘Took a bullet’: Secret Service denied Donald Trump extra security for two years
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