Republicans are calling for Donald Trump’s security to be increased to the ‘highest level of presidential protection’ after a second assassination attempt on his life.
The threat level against the ex-president is so high that the head of the U.S. Secret Service revealed staffing changes need to be made if the GOP nominee wants to keep playing his favorite hobby golf.
The Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe Jr. met with the ex-president in Florida on Monday, the day after Ryan Wesley Routh’s alleged assassination attempt was thwarted while Trump was playing golf at his Palm Beach course.
A Secret Service agent spotted the barrel of 58-year-old Routh’s rifle sticking through the fence line near the sixth hole and fired off shots at him, causing him to flee before he was taken into custody by local police.
According to court documents, Routh stalked Trump’s course for nearly 12 hours before the assassination attempt, raising massive security concerns.
Now, according to the New York Times, the Secret Service chief told Trump significant additional security arrangements and planning would be needed if he wanted to continue playing golf safely.
It comes as Republicans on the hill on Tuesday called for additional security measures for the GOP presidential nominee and former president.
In the House, Republicans are preparing a bill for a vote this week mandating Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris get the same level of protection as President Biden.
Meanwhile, a group of seven GOP senators sent a letter to Rowe demanding the security increase for the ex-president on Tuesday.
As Kansas Senator Roger Marshall put it, they’re calling for Trump to have ‘the same protections as a sitting president.’
‘Put simply, President Trump does not have the Secret Service protective detail commensurate with the existing threat environment,’ the letter dated September 17 stated.
The letter commended the agents for their actions on Sunday after they were able to identify the rifle barrel sticking through the fence and take action to protect the nominee before he could be harmed.
But it went on to say there needs to be more done to protect Trump.
‘It is imperative that the USSS detail assigned to President Trump be afforded additional protective resources, including greater staffing capabilities that would allow agents to secure a broader perimeter,’ they wrote.
‘These measures would better safeguard President Trump’s life and help ease concerns that there will be additional attempts made,’ they added.
Speaking at a press conference on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, the Republican senators said Trump is not going to stop campaigning furiously and is not like other candidates.
‘He’s going to do what he needs to do folks. We’re in DEFCON ONE and up here on the Hill in the last few days, I don’t feel that,’ said Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville.
He said they need to ‘wake up and smell the roses,’ adding ‘we’ve gotta do something. Let’s don’t wait until it’s too late.’
Senator Mike Lee said anything less than ‘a comparable level to that enjoyed typically by the president’ would be a ‘real misjudgment.’
Senate Majority Leader Schumer has signaled that he is open to additional Secret Service funding on Monday, but that could be a sticking point with Republicans on Capitol Hill.
‘We don’t need more funding. We’ve got 7,000 Secret Service officers out there right now. There’s 100 Secret Service offices across the country,’ Marshall said. ‘They’ve got plenty of personnel. They’ve got plenty of money. They need to prioritize where to be placing these Secret Service agents,’ said Marshall.
Officials said the gunman may have been on the scene for 12 hours.
When asked about the prospect the gunman was there for so long, Tuberville said on Tuesday he has played golf with Trump there many times and agents have ‘been on top of everything.’
He argued ‘just almost impossible to protect 100 percent a guy like Donald Trump who’s gonna go outside, who’s gonna do rallies, who’s gonna play golf.’
The GOP senators who sent the letter are calling for the Secret Service director to take actions by September 27.