Former President Donald Trump slammed Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle after she resigned Tuesday following bipartisan backlash to security failings that resulted in an attempt on his life.
Without criticizing the agency itself, Trump trashed the former director and President Joe Biden’s administration, saying it was their failure to protect him that forced him to “take a bullet for democracy.”
In an interview with Fox News Digital’s Brooke Singman, Trump shared how he was never adequately staffed with enough Secret Service agents.
“Many requests were made by on-site Secret Service for more people, always with a turn down or no response,” Trump said.
The Secret Service had just recently acknowledged that it denied some requests by Trump’s campaign for increased security at his rallies and events years before the assassination attempt.
This revelation comes after Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said a day after the assassination attempt that Trump was never denied extra protection.
“There’s an untrue assertion that a member of the former President’s team requested additional security resources & that those were rebuffed,” Guglielmi said. “This is absolutely false. In fact, we added protective resources & technology & capabilities as part of the increased campaign travel tempo.”
Guglielmi later admitted that Trump’s security detail would rely on local law enforcement in instances when it was denied full resources.
While Trump praised the Secret Service agents apart from his security detail for their bravery on July 13, he blamed the Biden administration for the assassination attempt.
“The Biden/Harris Administration did not properly protect me, and I was forced to take a bullet for Democracy, ” Trump said on Truth Social. “IT WAS MY GREAT HONOR TO DO SO!”
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However, since the assassination attempt, Trump said that “big improvements have been made.”
“I have the biggest crowds in history, and they should be treated accordingly,” Trump said.