Security experts see latest Trump close call as ‘a failure, 100%’

After two near-assassinations in two months, the Secret Service is facing scorching criticism for its work to protect former President Donald Trump.

In July, the agency’s director resigned amid bipartisan outrage over the failure to prevent a gunman from climbing onto a roof and firing multiple shots at Trump during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. And now, security experts are questioning how another would-be gunman was apparently able to camp undetected near Trump’s golf course for nearly 12 hours before being confronted by a Secret Service agent who opened fire.

“I think it’s a failure, 100%,” said security expert Carrie Bachner, referring to the latest incident. Bachner is the CEO of the Bachner Group and a former adviser to the Department of Homeland Security’s undersecretary for intelligence and analysis.

“Obviously, it was successful in the fact that the former president wasn’t shot, which is great, and no shots were fired from that particular individual,” she added. “However, that’s sort of looking at the glass half full, if you want to be positive about it.”

On Capitol Hill, the Secret Service is at the center of the House’s investigation into the first assassination attempt. That probe is now poised to expand to include a second.

The suspect allegedly involved in Sunday’s incident was within several hundred yards of Trump as he played golf, authorities said. Someone with a loaded gun should never have been allowed to get that close to the presidential candidate, Bachner said.

In court papers filed Monday morning, an FBI agent alleged that Routh started staking out Trump’s golf course at about 2 a.m. on Sunday. Twelve hours later, as Trump was golfing, a Secret Service agent walking the course’s perimeter saw Routh’s semi-automatic rifle poking through the fence surrounding the course. The agent fired at him and Routh fled. He was later arrested by local law enforcement and has been charged by federal prosecutors with gun crimes.

The allegation that his stake-out lasted half a day is troubling, said John Sandweg, the former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

“I think that’s fair to say that that’s a failure,” he said. “There’s no denying that.”

But, he added, the Secret Service faces intense demands and stratospherically high threats. Every time one of its protectees travels, agents need to visit the site beforehand to scan for danger. During campaign season, when protectees visit multiple places every day — ranging from fast food restaurants to hotel ballrooms to massive rallies — agents first must screen each location.

The agency often leans on other law enforcement partners to help with its ballooning responsibility. But, Sandweg said, the Trump assassination attempts signal that a better plan for augmenting the Service may be necessary.

“What we’re seeing right now is, that’s not enough,” he added.

The Secret Service’s defenders say it is ably performing a job that can border on the impossible — and Trump himself has praised the agents who protected him.

“THE JOB WAS ABSOLUTELY OUTSTANDING,” he wrote on his social media network, Truth Social. “I AM VERY PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN!”

In remarks on Monday, President Joe Biden also praised the agency and condemned political violence. And in a press conference on Monday afternoon, the agency’s acting director, Ronald Rowe Jr., praised the agents who protected Trump from the would-be shooter.

“The Secret Service’s protective methodologies work, and they are sound and we saw that yesterday,” he said. “But the way we are positioned now in this dynamic threat environment has given me guidance to say, you know what, we need to look at what our methodology is.”

Paul Eckloff, former assistant detail leader for Trump’s protective detail when he was president, said criticisms of the agency are unfounded.

“The unpredictability of the lone gunman and the single assassin is terrifying,” he said. “And in this case, the protective method of how a golf course is secured worked.”

He added that Trump’s habit of regularly golfing at the same course made him an easier target than he might have been. But it also meant the Secret Service had experience protecting him there.

“This assassin knew there was a better-than-even chance that if he’s at Mar-a-Lago, he will golf and have lunch at the Trump International golf course,” Eckloff said. “That said, what that leads to is familiarity by the agents.”

The Secret Service has a daunting mission because they are expected to be perfect.

“In the end,” Eckloff added, “no protection is 100%. It’s just not possible. Not on a golf course, not in a building, not in a farm field. Law enforcement officers wear bulletproof vests and carry firearms because people are unpredictable and violence happens.”

Earlier this summer, the shooting at the Butler rally sparked widespread fury at the Secret Service, including calls from some conservatives for structural reforms.

In the wake of Sunday’s incident, Republicans have been more complimentary of Secret Service agents. But they have renewed their criticism of its leadership and the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the Secret Service.

“I think there are some really patriotic, great people working in the Secret Service, but it’s the leadership. … I have no faith in Secretary Mayorkas,” Speaker Mike Johnson said Monday in an interview with Fox & Friends, referring to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a close ally of Trump, is also publicly calling on the Secret Service to be moved out of DHS and placed back under the Department of Treasury, its original parent agency.

Jordain Carney contributed to this report.