STEP IT UP

Lawmakers Want More Protection for Trump After Second Assassination Attempt

Officials and legislators from both sides of the aisle are demanding that the former president be afforded better protective resources after the latest attempt on his life.

Government officials and political figures spanning both sides of the aisle on Sunday called for better protection for former President Donald Trump in the wake of a second attempt on his life in as many months. Although the U.S. Secret Service significantly upped its focus on Trump after an initial assassination attempt in Pennsylvania in July, questions remain about the agency’s capacity to protect the former president. “At this level that he is at right now, he’s not the sitting president—if he was, we would have had this entire golf course surrounded,” Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said at a news conference on Sunday. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) retweeted a clip of Bradshaw’s remarks and said, “Secret Service must up their level of protection of him to their FULL capabilities.” Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-SC) added that it was “imperative” that oversight of the Secret Service be transferred away from the Department of Homeland Security. “They’ve lost their focus,” he told The New York Times. “They need more resources. These agents just work; they have no lives.” Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) told Axios that all major presidential candidates “ought to receive the highest level of presidential [protection]. Anything less than maximum protection is a self-inflicted wound that puts our Nation’s stability at grave risk.”