Former President Donald Trump shared more information about the second attempt on his life Tuesday night, commending a Secret Service agent who may have prevented shots from being fired at the Republican nominee on Sunday.
In an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity, Trump described the assassination attempt at his West Palm Beach, Florida, golf course as a “very different story” compared to the earlier incident in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13. He praised a “very sharp agent” who spotted the barrel of an AK-47-style rifle protruding from a fence approximately 400 yards away.
“In this particular case, you had a very sharp agent, as good as you could find, and did a fantastic job, but somebody could have missed the barrel of that rifle,” Trump stated. “Somebody of lesser talents or somebody that was distracted could have missed or could have been shot, I mean, frankly, could have also been shot.”
“But in this case, it worked out very well,” he added. “Butler is a very different story. Somebody should have been on that building, and that’s a different story.”
On July 13, Trump was shot in the right ear in Butler after gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks managed to secure a rooftop position 130 yards away. Crooks fired eight shots, killing rallygoer Corey Comperatore and wounding two other attendees.
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) released a report earlier this week addressing the security failures at Trump’s Butler rally. The report called the incident the “most stunning breakdown in presidential security since the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and the attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan.”
When asked by Hannity if the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the Secret Service, has denied any requests from the Trump campaign for additional resources, Trump responded, “We have long requested more people.” He went on to say that “if there’s a weakness” in his Secret Service protection, it’s that his detail needs more “manpower.”
“We have tremendous rallies and crowds, and that’s a good thing, but you need more protection,” Trump explained. “I will say, in Butler, we wanted more protection … and we never seemed to get that.”
Following the second attempt on Trump’s life, President Joe Biden acknowledged that the Secret Service “needs more help,” and top lawmakers called for the agency to provide enhanced protection for Trump.
“President Trump needs the most coverage of anyone. He’s the most attacked. He’s the most threatened, even probably more than when he was in the Oval Office,” remarked House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) earlier this week.
Democrat Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut also voiced concern, stating that the second assassination attempt “is deeply alarming and appalling.”
