The head of the US Secret Service told Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in a private meeting that significant new security arrangements will be needed if he wants to continue playing golf, The New York Times reported on Tuesday.
Trump asked Ronald Rowe, the Secret Service's acting director, in a meeting on Monday whether it was safe for him to continue playing, the newspaper said. Rowe said the Secret Service views the golf course at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland as easier to secure because it is a military course.
That meeting occurred a day after the Secret Service thwarted a second apparent assassination attempt on Trump in less than two months. On Sunday, Secret Service agents fired on Ryan Wesley Routh, the alleged would-be assassin, when they saw the barrel of his gun poking through the fence line at Trump's golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida, and police officers later arrested him.
The incident has raised questions within Trump's orbit and among lawmakers about whether Trump's protection is sufficient.
"Former president Trump is receiving the highest level of protection the Secret Service can provide, and we will continue to evaluate and adjust our specific protective measures and methodology based on each location and situation," Secret Service spokesperson Melissa McKenzie said on Tuesday.
Trump on Tuesday told Fox News "we've long requested more people" and that additional Secret Service protection was forthcoming.
Trump told new security arrangements are needed if he continues to play golf
The head of the US Secret Service told Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in a private meeting that significant new security arrangements will be needed if he wants to continue playing golf, The New York Times reported on Tuesday.
Trump asked Ronald Rowe, the Secret Service's acting director, in a meeting on Monday whether it was safe for him to continue playing, the newspaper said. Rowe said the Secret Service views the golf course at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland as easier to secure because it is a military course.
That meeting occurred a day after the Secret Service thwarted a second apparent assassination attempt on Trump in less than two months. On Sunday, Secret Service agents fired on Ryan Wesley Routh, the alleged would-be assassin, when they saw the barrel of his gun poking through the fence line at Trump's golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida, and police officers later arrested him.
The incident has raised questions within Trump's orbit and among lawmakers about whether Trump's protection is sufficient.
"Former president Trump is receiving the highest level of protection the Secret Service can provide, and we will continue to evaluate and adjust our specific protective measures and methodology based on each location and situation," Secret Service spokesperson Melissa McKenzie said on Tuesday.
Trump on Tuesday told Fox News "we've long requested more people" and that additional Secret Service protection was forthcoming.
"I think we are getting it. Somebody told me they will be providing more people," Trump told interviewer Sean Hannity by telephone.
West Palm Beach sheriff Ric Bradshaw told reporters on Sunday that Trump's security detail was not as tight as that of a sitting president.
Since the incident, Democrats and Republicans have accused each other of using overheated rhetoric that is inspiring political violence.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a press briefing on Tuesday that Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance's comments about vice president Kamala Harris not having faced an assassination attempt are dangerous.
"The big difference between conservatives and liberals is that no one has tried to kill Kamala Harris in the past few months," Vance said on Monday.
Jean-Pierre said that language could put Harris in danger.
"When you make comments like that, all it does is opens an opportunity for people to listen to you and potentially take you very seriously, and it's dangerous to have that type of rhetoric out there," she said.
Trump was due to speak at a campaign event in Michigan on Tuesday night in his first public political event since the apparent assassination attempt over the weekend.
Reuters
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