Former federal lawmen and current members of Congress agreed Monday that former President Donald Trump deserves enhanced Secret Service protection one day after he dodged a second assassination attempt in 64 days.
Former Customs and Border Protection commissioner Mark Morgan told The Post that Trump, 78, required a boosted security detail given the severity of the threats he faces — including a foiled assassination plot by a suspected Iranian agent — and insisted that the Department of Homeland Security is more than able to provide that defense.
“The resources dedicated to his protection should be commensurate with the threats,” said Morgan, who spent nearly two decades in the FBI before serving with the US Border Patrol and CBP. “And I would say the same thing, regardless [of] whether it was [former] President [Bill] Clinton or former President [Barack] Obama.”
“When there’s something that clearly is a failure, the go-to is always, ‘Well, let’s just throw more money, more people at it,’” he added. “And oftentimes in government, that’s actually not the answer.”
“The US Secret Service should unilaterally increase Donald Trump’s protection based on his threat level rather than using old rules of a protectee’s status on paper,” echoed former Department of Homeland Security acting deputy chief of staff Lora Ries.
“Trump is perhaps the most threatened person in the world, with threats from both domestic and foreign adversaries, including an Iranian assassination plot to avenge the death of Iran General [Qassem] Soleimani during Trump’s presidency,” Ries said. “He should be protected to the maximum level based on that threat. If the Secret Service can’t or won’t provide such thorough protection, Trump should use private security.”
Members of Congress were also united in calling for the swift enactment of increased security protocols in the wake of the alleged plot of Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, to kill Trump at his namesake golf club in West Palm Beach, Fla.
“Two assassination attempts in 60 days on a former President & the Republican nominee is unacceptable,” said Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), one of a few Democrats to call for then-Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle’s resignation after the first assassination attempt against Trump July 13 at a Pennsylvania campaign rally.
“The Secret Service must come to Congress tomorrow, tell us what resources are needed to expand the protective perimeter, & lets allocate it in a bipartisan vote the same day,” Khanna added on Sunday evening.
“I’ve seen enough,” chimed in Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) on Sunday night. “If Congress has to force the Secret Service to protect Donald Trump, that’s what we’re going to do.”
“Today, President Trump needs the most coverage of anyone,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson on “Fox & Friends” Monday morning. “He’s the most attacked. He’s the most threatened, even probably more than when he was in the Oval Office.”
Johnson (R-La.) went on to note that the House will be “demanding” that the former president be granted “every asset available.”
“This second failure now calls for a legislative fix,” Jonathan Wilcox, a senior aide to Issa, told The Post, claiming the Secret Service’s “word isn’t good enough” after two high-profile, near-fatal incidents.
Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) announced Monday she was also sending a letter to Secret Service Acting Director Ronald Rowe, who replaced Cheatle after she stepped down, requesting that Trump “receive the same protection as President Biden.”
Routh hunkered down in a makeshift sniper’s nest off the 6th hole at Trump International Golf Club West Palm Beach for nearly 12 hours before the barrel of his SKS-style rifle was spotted by a Secret Service agent walking the course ahead of the 45th president.
The agent opened fire — but Routh fled the scene unscathed and was later arrested after a traffic stop on Interstate 95.
Both the shooting at Butler, Pa. — where Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, fired from 130 yards and killed rallygoer Corey Comperatore, struck Trump in the right ear and critically injured David Dutch, 57, and James Copenhaver 74 — and the West Palm Beach near-shooting, where Routh would have fired from roughly 300 yards were “straightforward,” according to Morgan, making it “unconscionable” that either would-be assassin was able to set up a position.
Morgan pointed out that Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas “has some latitude to reprogram funding” for beefed up security — and has “been doing that since Day One” on the southern border to facilitate the processing of a record number of migrant entries.
The ex-CBP chief also noted that Mayorkas has more than 80,000 armed agents at his disposal to deploy to various security details, making manpower a non-issue.
“He actually oversees a department that has more sworn law enforcement officers than any other department in the United States,” Morgan said of Mayorkas, citing additional DHS agents who were part of the security footprint for Trump’s Butler rally on July 13.
“When I served in the FBI, we augmented Secret Service. When I was a police officer for LAPD, we would augment the Secret Service,” Morgan explained. “So, the resources, in my opinion, are there.”
“For their protection mission, they have about 3,600 agents, about 1,600 [in] uniform and another 2,000 technical administrative support personnel to carry out the mission,” he went on. “They always will need to rely on state, local and other federal agencies to augment their protection detail.”
“In Butler, that wasn’t a resource issue. They had plenty of state and local, right? That was a command-decision issue, with respect to decisions that were made prior to,” Morgan added.
“I say the same thing with this latest assassination attempt, there was a conscious decision on the leadership not to put protection resources and surveillance on the road to protect that road.”
That assessment was echoed by the Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw in a press conference Sunday, when he said the road would have been secured if Trump were president.
Following the first assassination attempt against Trump in Butler, Pa., on July 13, Mayorkas announced that the Secret Service had “enhanced” the former president’s protective detail.
“I cannot discuss specifics of the protection or the enhancements made, as they involve sensitive tactics and procedures,” Mayorkas said July 15. “I can say, however, that personnel and other protective resources, technology, and capabilities have been added.”
But an anonymous Secret Service whistleblower, in a July 29 email to the agency’s Uniformed Division made public last month, reportedly warned higher-ups that they “SHOULD expect another assassination attempt,” given the failure to address the security lapses at Butler.
Bulletproof glass has since been used at rallies for both Trump and his vice presidential pick, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio).
“The Rhetoric, Lies, as exemplified by the false statements made by Comrade Kamala Harris during the rigged and highly partisan ABC Debate, and all of the ridiculous lawsuits specifically designed to inflict damage on Joe’s, then Kamala’s, Political Opponent, ME, has taken politics in our Country to a whole new level of Hatred, Abuse, and Distrust,” Trump thundered on his Truth Social and X accounts Monday afternoon in the wake of the thwarted assassination.
Minutes before, he thanked the Secret Service and Palm Beach County sheriff “for the incredible job done” at the golf course after spying Routh, “keeping me, as the 45th President of the United States, and the Republican Nominee in the upcoming Presidential Election, SAFE.”
“THE JOB DONE WAS ABSOLUTELY OUTSTANDING,” he gushed. “I AM VERY PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN!”
Both Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris denounced the planned political violence on Sunday.
“As I have said many times, there is no place for political violence or for any violence ever in our country, and I have directed my team to continue to ensure that Secret Service has every resource, capability and protective measure necessary to ensure the former President’s continued safety,” Biden said in a statement.
“I am deeply disturbed by the possible assassination attempt of former President Trump today. As we gather the facts, I will be clear: I condemn political violence. We all must do our part to ensure that this incident does not lead to more to violence,” added Harris.
Reps for the Secret Service did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
