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Bipartisan frustration with the Secret Service is boiling over after a second alleged assassination attempt on Donald Trump this week.
Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill are openly questioning the security protocols of the beleaguered agency, with senators calling for expanded investigations into how another apparent would-be gunman got so close to Trump on Monday.
“They’re obviously not doing the job they ought to be doing,” Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, told Semafor. “The problem is, they failed twice.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer signaled the Senate could move rapidly to bolster the Secret Service’s resources as soon as this month. And even with an election just 50 days away, rank-and-file members of both parties indicated they back more funding for the Secret Service after Trump faced a second threat to his life.
The urgency reflects growing fears that Trump’s protection as a former president is insufficient and that two close calls in two months — a gunman who targeted Trump at a Pennsylvania rally in July killed one attendee and seriously wounded two — is far too many. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) called the Secret Service protection in July “slipshod” and concluded: “They’ve got serious problems.”
Lawmakers sounded past the point of patience on Monday, roughly 24 hours after the Secret Service arrested Ryan Routh, now charged with federal gun crimes related to the apparent assassination, after he was spotted on Trump’s golf course on Sunday. The Secret Service, already facing heat from lawmakers across the ideological spectrum, is working with an acting director after the resignation of former Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle following the July shooting.
“It is absolutely alarming that in the span of little over a month we’ve had two assassination attempts,” said Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J. “The former president of the United States should have more protection given the nature of these threats.”
Both Senate leaders addressed the latest close call on the Senate floor on Monday afternoon, with Schumer decrying political violence and vowing that Congress is “prepared” to send more money ASAP. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Americans need assurances that Trump is receiving the “appropriate measure of security. And they ought to receive them without delay.”
The government needs to be funded by Sept. 30 to avoid a shutdown, giving the House and Senate an immediate opportunity to act if funding is urgently needed. In addition to the aisle-crossing groundswell of support for more funding, several Republicans indicated they would introduce bills to expand security for presidential candidates.
The flurry of responses reflected widespread worries in Congress about the prospect of political violence surrounding the election.
“This can’t happen. This has to be gotten under control,” said Senate GOP Whip John Thune of South Dakota. “There are crazy people out there, you can’t give them access to circumstances and geography that would let them get close to President Trump. It’s a scary time.”
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The Secret Service engaged the suspect after an officer noticed a rifle on the golf course and shot at the alleged gumman. Routh never got off a shot in return and the president was immediately evacuated, Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe said at a Monday afternoon news conference.
As his agency faces intense bipartisan criticism for the second time this year, Rowe declared that “the protective methodologies of the Secret Service were effective yesterday.” He said President Joe Biden requested the “highest levels of protection” for Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris after Trump was shot at in July, and that those high levels of protection were in place on Sunday.
But senators said they found the Sunday incident problematic. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) called for a “beefed-up” security perimeter around Trump.
“We need a full investigation about how it is that someone has gotten that close to the former president with weapons,” said Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. “It’s clear something needs to change over there.”
Burgess’s view
Congress doesn’t typically move quickly to address problems, but the assassination attempts on Trump may well prove an exception. Schumer’s lightning-fast vow to help the Secret Service, perhaps even in the next government spending bill, was a clear sign that both parties are serious about avoiding a third incident this year.
The Secret Service, in fact, has already asked for the money it’s now in line to get. It told senators in a letter this month that lack of resources was not the cause of the July shooting but asked for additional funding ahead of the election.
“We ought to give that every consideration,” said Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, the top Republican on the Appropriations Committee.