Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL), a member of the House task force looking into the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump, has some serious questions for the Secret Service.
The lawmaker has raised concerns about the agency’s denial of multiple Trump campaign requests for additional security for the candidate’s rallies. Waltz indicated these requests were denied because of concerns over funding, according to a Fox News exclusive report.
Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., told Fox News Digital his sources within USSS were "frustrated" with their leaders, including how they've handled the fallout since Trump's July 13 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Waltz suggested he was told Trump had been getting the normal level of protection for a former president, but that USSS leadership was hesitant to grant requests for added security for all of his campaign events as a major party candidate for re-election.
"What I was initially told was that kind of the atmosphere ... the leadership wouldn't say it explicitly, but the tone and the tenor they got back was, 'We're not going to burn through our budget — all the extra overtime, all the extra travel, all these extra agents and resources — so that Trump can have all of these rallies every week,'" Waltz said. "That was really, you know, the kind of message they were getting back.
"If that's the case, that is highly politicized and highly dangerous. If they needed more resources, they should have come to the Congress and asked for it, because you've got a very active former president who — oh, by the way — is also a candidate.
"You can't just go to, you know, your standard operating procedures for, say, a Jimmy Carter who's sitting in an old folks' home. And so I'm really interested in getting to the bottom of how that happened."
The lawmaker reiterated that Trump is “not your average former president” and questioned whether there were “other near misses.”
This is the latest in a series of reports suggesting that the Secret Service repeatedly denied the Trump campaign additional security for its events, including the July 13 rally where the assassination attempt happened.
Anthony Guglielmi, a spokesman for the agency, defended its actions.
"The Secret Service has a vast, dynamic and intricate mission. Every day we work in a dynamic threat environment to ensure our protectees are safe and secure across multiple events, travel and other challenging environments. We execute a comprehensive and layered strategy to balance personnel, technology and specialized operational needs," he said.
"In some instances where specific Secret Service specialized units or resources were not provided, the agency made modifications to ensure the security of the protectee. This may include utilizing state or local partners to provide specialized functions or otherwise identifying alternatives to reduce public exposure of a protectee."
The Secret Service held a press briefing on Friday to address the July 13 shooting. Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe Jr. acknowledged the agency’s failings. “The Secret Service takes full responsibility for the tragic events of July 13th. This was a mission failure,” he said.
Rowe acknowledged that the Secret Service personnel were unaware that the shooter had a firearm until after he first opened fire. It was the first of Trump’s rallies in which the agency deployed counter snipers.
The acting director detailed some of the other failures on the part of the Secret Service in preventing the shooting, which killed a rallygoer. Although Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned over the fiasco, no one has been fired despite the huge number of mistakes made.
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