The refusal, despite multiple written requests, created long-running tensions between Trump, his aides and top security and Secret Service officials, as his advisers privately worried the vaunted security agency was not up to the task of protecting the former president.
After initially denying that it had turned down requests for more security, the Secret Service now acknowledges that some may have been turned down, a revelation that comes as veteran agency officials say the agency is making tough decisions amid competing demands, a growing number of people it protects and limited funding.
The department is under investigation for security lapses at the rally last Saturday, when a gunman opened fire with an AR-15-style rifle from a rooftop about 150 yards from the former president, wounding Trump and two others and killing a man in the crowd.
Trump’s advisers were further angered when a Secret Service spokesman publicly denied that any request for additional security submitted by Trump or his aides had ever been turned down. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle, who is under pressure to resign over security lapses at rallies, repeated that denial when she met with Trump campaign officials in Wisconsin on Monday, people familiar with the discussions said.
“The assertion that members of the former President’s security team requested additional security resources and were denied by the U.S. Secret Service or the Department of Homeland Security is categorically false,” Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said in a statement the day after the shooting.
After being questioned at length by The Washington Post, Guglielmi said he had received new information indicating that headquarters may have in fact denied some of Trump’s requests for additional security from his personal security detail, and that he was reviewing documents to better understand the specific interactions.
“The Secret Service’s mission is broad, challenging and complex,” he said in a statement. “We work every day in an environment of constantly changing threats to ensure the safety and security of those we protect across a wide range of events, travel and other challenging circumstances. We execute a comprehensive, layered strategy to balance personnel, technology and specialized operational needs.”
In response to a request for comment, a Trump campaign spokesman pointed to a statement Trump posted on Truth Social praising his Secret Service officers.
The protracted battle over protection for a former president who regularly holds large public events is raising new questions for the Secret Service, the long-respected security force that protects U.S. presidents, their families and other dignitaries. But the organization has been plagued by staffing shortages and hiring limits since 2010 and suffered a series of embarrassing security lapses under the Obama and Trump administrations.
A Secret Service official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive internal discussions, said the agency has limited resources and must juggle competing demands, particularly for counter-sniper and counter-assault teams and teams of uniformed officers who use magnetic detectors to help screen event attendees for weapons.
Currently, the agency provides protection to more than 20 people, most of whom require full-time protection, but others who receive what is informally called “door-to-door” protection from the moment they leave their homes. This includes the president, vice president and their families, former presidents, candidates, and a growing number of senior government officials. After the Butler shooting, the agency added security personnel to independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and now also provides protection to Republican vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance.
Bill Gage, a former Secret Service agent who served in the presidential guard and counter-assault squad during the Bush and Obama administrations, said the agency is always overwhelmed with far more requests and events than it can accommodate through its hiring pool, and that during busy election periods, headquarters often turns down requests even more frequently.
“I hate to oversimplify it, but this is simply a supply and demand issue. Requests are routinely turned down,” Gage said. “Ultimately, the director has to come forward and say we don’t have the manpower and we can’t continue this zero-failure mission without a significant increase in the budget.”
The Defense Department’s Protective Operations Directorate reviews security requests for events and, as part of its normal negotiations, may reconsider an initial refusal if persuaded that the risks are worth the cost, officials said. But that must be balanced with the reality that deploying agents, countersnipers and magnetometers at one event reduces what the Defense Department can offer to other people it protects.
The weekend of Butler’s shooting, the Secret Service deployed multiple anti-sniper teams and hundreds of agents to the Republican National Convention, and was also arranging events for Jill Biden and President Biden’s visit to Austin, which was scheduled for the day after the shooting.
“That is true. We don’t have the resources to protect him. [Trump] “Just like when he was president,” the official said.
None of the rejected requests reviewed by The Washington Post were related to the Pennsylvania rally. But one of the rejections that most concerned the Trump campaign was for a rally in South Carolina in July 2023, one of the first major events of Trump’s current campaign. Trump was speaking in a downtown square in Pickens, a small town 20 miles west of Greenville. The attack took place in an area surrounded by commercial and residential buildings, and Trump’s security team has asked for additional sniper forces on rooftops to guard against possible gunfire or other attacks, according to a person familiar with the request.
The Pickens event was one of several where Trump’s team was denied further tactical support, according to people familiar with the matter, who said they were told by Secret Service headquarters that after lengthy discussions about why they needed a team, it was determined they couldn’t provide the resources.
Guglielmi said the Secret Service is still working on plans for the Pickens incident, but that local counter-snipers, rather than a Secret Service team, would be on standby to deal with any potential active shooter threats.
On multiple other occasions, Trump’s team has requested magnetometers and additional help to screen attendees when Trump attends sporting events, particularly wrestling matches and college football games. A person familiar with the requests said: “They were denied because the events are not campaign activities.”
In one instance, the Secret Service argued that no screening was necessary because Trump would enter a stadium in a secured elevator to watch a football game and then be escorted through a secured area to a private suite with limited access. That’s according to a Secret Service official who confirmed some of the security requests.
“He was not wandering among the general public,” the official said, “and in those circumstances there is no need to attack the entire stadium with batons.”
But Trump’s advisers said he frequently moved around the open-air concourses at the Olympics, mingling with large crowds, and some of his advisers have repeatedly raised concerns about his safety as he moves around sporting venues, according to people familiar with the matter.
People close to Trump also said they worried about a lack of magnetometers or security guards at his rallies, including one in 2023 in Macomb, Michigan, where some attendees jumped bike racks to get past security and were detained by local police, according to people close to Trump who witnessed the incident.
Advisers to Trump said the denials have been a source of frustration for more than a year.
The Secret Service provides the highest level of protection to sitting presidents and senior administration officials. Former presidents get much less Secret Service protection, but former Secret Service agents say Trump’s high profile and daily habits pose a different kind of security challenge than most former presidents.
Trump is also the first former president to seek reelection in modern times, which brings with it an added security burden, although candidates are not provided with the same level of security as sitting presidents.
Other former presidents rarely make large public appearances. Live a more private life. Meanwhile, Trump is constantly surrounded by crowds at his clubs and golf courses. We hold courses and frequently hold campaign events. Especially since he announced that he will run for president again in November 2022, he has thousands, if not tens of thousands, of supporters.
Cheatle, a veteran Secret Service agent, called the security lapses at the July 13 rally unacceptable after a gunman opened fire from a poorly secured rooftop about 150 yards from where Trump spoke and had been seen behaving suspiciously before the rally. Trump began his speech, but the Secret Service did not intervene or prevent him from going on stage.
Secret Service and Trump aides also discussed plans for the Republican National Convention, among other things. The two men clashed over how much of a Secret Service presence there should be, and their relationship became strained, with Republican leaders repeatedly seeking meetings with top Secret Service officials in Washington after fighting with their local counterparts over security and logistics.
On Thursday, Trump senior adviser Chris LaCivita called for Cheatle’s resignation, as did several senators from both parties. During the convention, several Republican senators chased Cheatle around an arena in Milwaukee, where he was briefed on the investigation. They yelled at Cheatle when he refused to answer questions about the assassination attempt.
