The US Secret Service flatly denied a claim by White House correspondent Susan Crabtree that some members of former President Trump’s protective detail had been “diverted” to a Pittsburgh event featuring First Lady Jill Biden on the day a gunman attempted to kill the former president.
The near-assassination of Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania last Saturday has prompted significant blowback against the Secret Service, with many seeking answers for why the gunman was able to get so close to Trump in the first place.
In a June 14 post on X, RealClearPolitics White House correspondent Susan Crabtree said her sources claimed that some of Trump’s detail was sent to protect Mrs. Biden during her Pittsburgh event the same day.
Crabtree said Secret Service protocols dictated that emphasis be placed on the First Lady given Trump’s status as a former president.
She also said that many of the agents on duty in Butler were not part of the former president’s regular Secret Service detail, but “supplemental agents” pulled from various field offices, and only included two counter-snipers.
According to Crabtree, Trump’s regular detail had been “overworked,” by Trump’s heavy campaign schedule.
Crabtree demanded to know who decided to divert resources to the First Lady’s event.
However, Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi disputed Crabtree’s claim.
In a reply to her post, Guglielmi said resources were not diverted to the First Lady, explaining that Secret Service protection models did not “work that way.” He added that the agents pulled from other field offices were members of the Secret Service’s “candidate nominee operations teams” that are used to supplement protective details during election campaigns to accommodate “the heavy travel tempo.”
Another rumor floating around social media was that the Trump campaign’s request for additional Secret Service protection was denied.
However, Guglielmi also disputed that claim, saying in a post on X that the Secret Service “added protection resources,” “technology,” and “capabilities” to the Trump campaign “as part of the increased campaign travel tempo.”
