Secret Service enhanced Trump’s protection in June, but DHS chief admits ‘failure’ during shooting

The U.S. Secret Service is pledging changes to former President Trump’s security detail after the Homeland Security Department chief on Monday conceded the assassination attempt on Trump amounted to a “failure” by his agency. 

The update to Trump’s detail comes on top of “security enhancements” USSS implemented in June, agency Director Kimberly Cheatle said on Monday. It also came as DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas acknowledged his department fell short in its duty to protect the former president after a shooter, allegedly Thomas Matthew Crooks, fired at him at a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday, which left at least one attendee dead and Trump grazed but largely unharmed. 

“When I say that something like this cannot happen, we are speaking of a failure,” Mayorkas told CNN on Monday. 

He declined to answer most questions regarding what led to that failure, saying he would wait until the conclusion of an investigation into the incident that President Biden ordered and will be carried out outside of DHS. 

“That is indeed what an independent review is directed to do: identify what occurred, make recommendations to ensure that nothing like this ever happens again,” the secretary said. 

Cheatle said USSS is currently working with federal, state and local law enforcement to determine how the shooting happened and how to prevent it from taking place again. She pledged to cooperate with the independent review as well as any congressional probes, of which several have already been announced. She and Mayorkas both expressed confidence that the agency is fully prepared for the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, which began on Monday. 

“I am confident in the security plan our Secret Service RNC coordinator and our partners have put in place, which we have reviewed and strengthened in the wake of Saturday’s shooting,” Cheatle said. 

The FBI is leading the investigation into the shooting, which said late Sunday they have yet to identify a motive. It has deployed personnel from field and headquarters offices and is coordinating with several other federal agencies. 

Sens. Gary Peters, D-Mich., and Rand Paul, R-Ky., announced on Monday they were launching an investigation into the assassination attempt, which will include private briefing from Biden administration officials, public hearings and document requests. Peters and Paul agreed on the importance of uncovering all the facts that contributed to the security failures on Saturday.   

“This committee has an obligation to unearth the truth about the failures on Saturday and before, no matter how inconvenient to the government,” Paul said. “We will leave no stone unturned.”

The House Committees on Oversight and Accountability and Homeland Security are both probing the incident, with Rep. Mark Green, R-Tenn., who chairs the latter panel, already requesting any communications related to requests for increases to Trump’s security. DHS and USSS have vehemently denied that any such requests went ignored or unfilled. 

Some lawmakers are also pledging to provide more resources to Secret Service in the wake of the shooting, though it was not short changed in its most recent funding allocation. In fiscal 2024, USSS received $3.1 billion in discretionary funds, a 9% uptick from the prior year and more than Biden had requested. Biden asked for just $2.9 billion and essentially flat staffing levels for the agency in fiscal 2025—a proposal made before fiscal 2024 funding was finalized—and House Republicans have proposed instead boosting that figure to $3.2 billion.