As details emerge about the assassination attempt on once and future President Trump, the Secret Service is beginning to look not just incompetent but pathetic.
Let me be clear: we have no evidence of "plot" to get President Trump assassinated, but what we do have evidence of is a MASSIVE systems failure in a context of incredibly heightened alert.
Breaking exclusive: The U.S. obtained intel in recent weeks on a plot by Iran to try to assassinate Trump, a development that led to the Secret Service increasing his security before Saturday’s shooting. Plot has no known connection to Crooks, however: https://t.co/5hPww5UyZx
— Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) July 16, 2024
Apparently, the Secret Service had human intelligence that Iran was plotting to kill Trump, credible enough to increase the security status of the former president. A plot is not a vague threat but indicates active efforts to take him out.
US authorities obtained intelligence from a human source in recent weeks on a plot by Iran to try to assassinate Donald Trump, a development that led to the Secret Service increasing security around the former president in recent weeks, multiple people briefed on the matter told CNN.
There’s no indication that Thomas Matthew Crooks, the would-be assassin who attempted to kill the former president on Saturday, was connected to the plot, the sources said.
The existence of the intelligence threat from a hostile foreign intelligence agency — and the enhanced security for Trump — raises new questions about the security lapses at the Saturday rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, and how a 20-year-old man managed to access a nearby rooftop to fire shots that injured the former president.
It’s not clear whether the specifics of the Iran threat were shared with the Trump campaign, which said in a statement: “We do not comment on President Trump’s security detail. All questions should be directed to The United States Secret Service.”
The Secret Service recently “added protective resources and capabilities to the former President’s security detail,” agency spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi said in a statement on Sunday.
I am a skeptic of theories that either the Secret Service or Iran would use somebody as seemingly unreliable, inexperienced, and bizarrely obvious as Crooks (by obvious, I mean that he was not exactly stealthy at the rally). The circumstantial evidence for an "inside job" is not nonexistent but is seemingly contradicted by the fact that Crooks was hardly the hardened and experienced professional upon whom you would rely in such a high-stakes gambit.
I prefer the "gross and perplexing incompetence" theory of the case, and indeed our experience with the Biden administration over the past 3+ years tells us that everything they touch turns to sewage. When the head of your security service is picked by Jill Biden, it's hardly a stretch to guess "incompetence" as the reason for failure.
For months, law enforcement officials have been concerned about the persistent threat of Iran potentially attempting to assassinate former Trump officials and the former president himself, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter. But the recent intelligence suggested a significant uptick in the threat, the sources told CNN.
Warnings about that operational planning have coincided with a noticeable surge of online messaging from Iranian accounts and state-backed media mentioning Trump, which has raised security concerns among US officials, one of the sources told CNN.
Both Mayorkas and President Biden have expressed complete confidence in Cheatle, which is to say that they are doing what they always do in the midst of disaster: nothing good. No accountability, no intent to improve, and no apologies for failure. Mayorkas is thrilled with border security, so an assassination attempt on the president is probably just another day at the office.
What's the big deal?
"The buck stops with me."
— ABC News (@ABC) July 15, 2024
In her first network interview since the assassination attempt on former Pres. Trump, Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle told ABC News' Pierre Thomas the Pennsylvania rally shooting was "unacceptable." https://t.co/91XRB8oYEa pic.twitter.com/JxtEeghhEi
Cheatle even informed the world that the reason no snipers were on the roof of the building that a 20-year-old kid scaled with a Home Depot ladder was too dangerous for Secret Service agents to be stationed.
No, really, she said that.
This is what Kim Cheatle, head of the Secret Service, is going with to explain why the roof used by the Trump shooter was not covered:
— Brit Hume (@brithume) July 16, 2024
I wonder if she's aware of where the service's own snipers were posted. pic.twitter.com/wddswYUlpn
The level of incompetence on display is mind-blowing. And by incompetence I don't mean the particular agents involved, who may have all been doing the jobs they were assigned with competence and courage.
TOO SLOPE-Y. NOT TOO SLOPE-Y. pic.twitter.com/wNXM67fYsY
— Jared A. Chambers 🇺🇲 (@C4CEO) July 16, 2024
I mean the system, which failed utterly, And that system and the choices made to implement it are the responsibility of the leaders. We don't expect Cheatle or the agents in charge on the ground to be directly taking a bullet for the president. Their job is to make sure nobody has to, including the president, by implementing a plan that prevents something like this.
Every drop of new information astonishes me because they add up to such a massive failure. The Desert One failure in Iran looks like military genius compared to this.
Cheatle needs to go, but more importantly, a series of people should be held accountable after a meticulous investigation.
Trump seems to trust his team. But the system is not a team, but a series of plans that should ensure success.
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