Trump Criticizes Biden and Harris After Assassination Attempt - Head of Secret Service Resigns

After last month’s failed assassination attempt on former President Donald J. Trump, he has now, for the first time, held his political rivals Joe Biden and Kamala Harris responsible for the security failure. In a post on his social media platform "Truth Social," he stated on Tuesday: “The Biden/Harris Administration did not properly protect me, and I had to take a bullet for democracy.” His statements suggest that the Trump team will increasingly use the assassination attempt as political leverage against the current administration and Kamala Harris. The latter is considered a likely candidate for the Democratic Party in the upcoming presidential election. Although Trump continues to express full confidence in his own Secret Service team and publicly thanked them after the incident, there have been long-standing tensions between his team and the agency. These stem from denied requests for additional security resources, such as extra metal detectors and specially trained dogs. According to a campaign official, some requests, including a plea for metal detectors at his son Barron's graduation ceremony, were initially denied but ultimately granted. In the days following the shooting, where a gunman was positioned on a low building just 150 meters away from Trump, agency officials initially denied that such requests had been rejected. However, on July 20, the Secret Service admitted in a statement that some requests had indeed been denied. The revelation of numerous missed opportunities to stop the 20-year-old shooter has increasingly angered Trump’s advisers and supporters. At the Republican National Convention last week, Republican senators targeted Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle, demanding answers to questions they felt she was dodging about the assassination attempt. A GOP staff member filmed the confrontation, which only ended when Cheatle fled to a restroom. On Tuesday, Cheatle resigned amid growing bipartisan criticism. She testified before the House Oversight Committee on Monday and could or would not answer many questions from lawmakers about how the serious security lapses at the rally occurred. In her testimony, Cheatle acknowledged “colossal” security issues. Republicans had already initiated impeachment proceedings.