CNN
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Former President Donald Trump’s security detail had complained they were not being given enough resources and personnel by the Secret Service over the past two years, and the agency acknowledged Saturday it denied some requests.
A spokesperson for the Secret Service said in a statement Saturday that the agency has not provided certain resources in the past but has instead provided other security measures including from local partners. A Secret Service official told CNN that examples of these alternatives included having local sniper teams in place when the Secret Service could not provide their own, or having hand-held magnetometers and other measures established at certain events where larger, walk-through magnetometers weren’t available.
The news comes amid widespread concerns about how a sniper was able to obtain rooftop access roughly 150 meters from Trump’s position at an outdoor rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, last week. These past denials and modification of security requests from Trump’s team, first reported by the Washington Post, are unrelated to the Pennsylvania rally, where Secret Service officials say they increased security measures and did not deny requests to do so from the former president.
Some close to the former president felt the past decisions, which they believed were personal to Trump, came from the top ranks of the agency.
While Trump holds close relationships with members of his Secret Service detail, the relationship between those agents and the upper ranks of the agency has been tense for some time, according to multiple sources familiar with the dynamic.
In response to questions from CNN over whether the Secret Service had denied additional security requests, a spokesperson told CNN the agency makes “modifications” when certain resources are not provided to protectees.
“In some instances where specific Secret Service specialized units or resources were not provided, the agency made modifications to ensure the security of the protectee,” Anthony Guglielmi, chief of communications for the Secret Service, wrote in a statement. “This may include utilizing state or local partners to provide specialized functions or otherwise identifying alternatives to reduce public exposure of a protectee.”
Guglielmi said in a statement the day after the shooting that claims that Trump was denied additional security requests specifically for the rally in Pennsylvania were untrue.
“This is absolutely false. In fact, we added protective resources & technology & capabilities as part of the increased campaign travel tempo,” Guglielmi wrote on X.
Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle is facing a flurry of questions about how a gunman was able to get a clear line of sight to Trump at the rally site, and there have been calls for her resignation from members of Congress, including House Speaker Mike Johnson.
Cheatle will likely face questions over these issues during her testimony this week before several committees in Congress over the security failures that led to the assassination attempt.
This story and headline have been updated.
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