Donald Trump revealed the weakness in his Secret Service protection and indicated he’ll keep playing golf – despite the security risks.
The former president told Fox News’ Sean Hannity on Tuesday night that he needs more agents on his protective detail.
‘That’s the weakness,’ he said. ‘I think that’s the weakest use you still need the the power of the people.’
He also indicated he’ll keep playing golf despite warnings from the agency it is difficult to protect him on his course.
‘I just said let’s let’s go play a quick round because it’s all business for me,’ Trump said. ‘It’s my only bit of a form of exercise, so I like it, just something that is good.’
Secret Service Acting Director Ronald Rowe Jr. said on Monday agents scrambled to get a security perimeter in place when Trump decided to golf at his Florida club on Sunday.
Trump, however, is a regular at his course when he’s at his Mar-a-Lago home, which is about 20 minutes away.
‘It’s also shown very important that you know you be able to go and do what you want in safety,’ he told Hannity.
Agents have long been concerned about Trump’s golfing. They even showed him photos that were taken by news crews of him golfing, The Washington Post reported.
At Trump’s Virginia and West Palm Beach courses there are public areas that look on to the golf course. Passersby can see into the area and watch the players.
Additionally, like all former presidents, Trump saw his security detail shrink after the left the White House. But he’s remained in the public eye and is now the Republican nominee for president.
Trump and President Joe Biden spoke on Monday, about 24 hours after a suspect was spotted on the other side of the fence of Trump’s West Palm Beach golf club, with a rifle barrel pointed through the chain link.
Biden has said the Secret Service is short staffed and needs more resources.
Trump agreed.
‘We need more people here,’ he told Hannity. ‘We never seem to get that, and I think we are getting it now. Somebody told me that they will be providing more people now.’
Trump, like Biden and Kamala Harris, praised his personal detail. Biden and Harris have both said they feel safe in the hands of their agents.
The former president did the same, calling his detail ‘as good as you’re going to find, and did a fantastic job.’
Still, he pointed out. ‘somebody could have missed the barrel of that rifle, or somebody that was distracted, could have missed or could have been shot. I mean, frankly, you know, I could have also been shot, but in this case, it was something that worked out very well.’
But suspect Ryan Routh apparently waited in the area on Sunday for about 12 hours for a chance to take out Trump.
Cell phone location data obtained by the FBI indicates that Routh ‘was located in the vicinity of the area of the tree line’ at the Trump International Golf Course in West Palm Beach from just before 2:00 a.m. Sunday until about 1:30 p.m.
That is about when a Secret Service agent, who was checking the course ahead of Trump, spotted a gun muzzle protruding from a nearby fence and fired at Routh. Trump was quickly evacuated.
The details suggest some level of advance planning by Routh. Additionally, the fact he spent about 12 hours around the golf course without discovery has raised questions about the Secret Service’s protective procedures.
Officials said Routh was on the public side of the Trump golf course’s perimeter fence when the agent spotted the rifle’s muzzle.
Law enforcement is still investigating all the details, including where the suspect got the AK-style rifle, his movements ahead of the incident and if anyone else was involved.
It’s unclear where Routh may have parked and waited for the former president, who is known to play golf regularly at his West Palm Beach club when at his Mar-a-Lago home nearby.
Local police have increased security around the golf club, including closing down the road that leads to it to all but local traffic.
At the time the agent spotted the gun on Sunday, Trump was on the fifth hole of his Palm Beach golf club. The agent was on the sixth hole, doing a visual sweep ahead of the former president, when he spotted the muzzle of the rifle.
Routh was less than 500 yards from Trump when he was captured.
Secret Service Acting Director Ron Rowe said on Monday that Routh was not able to get off a single shot and never had Trump in his ‘line of sight.’
‘As former President Trump was moving through the fifth fairway, across the course and out of sight of the sixth green, the agent, who was visually sweeping the area of the sixth green, saw the subject armed with what he perceived to be a rifle and immediately discharged his firearm,’ he noted.
The Secret Service came under criticism for not securing a wide enough perimeter around Trump at his July 13th rally in Butler, Pa., where Thomas Matthew Crooks attempted to assassinate the former president.
But, Rowe noted, the agency had a security plan in place for Trump’s golf game, which he said was unscheduled.
‘We put together a security plan, and that security plan worked,’ he said Monday at a press conference.
Ryan was charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number.
Investigators are trying to restore the serial number so they could trace its origins.