The repeated attempts on former President Donald Trump’s life have deepened conservatives’ distrust of the government and the criminal justice system, including suspicions that Democrats and high-ranking officials are rooting for the assassins.
White House officials aren’t backing off their rhetoric, framing Mr. Trump, a day after Sunday’s assassination attempt, as “dangerous” and a “threat” to Democracy. At the same time, Republicans intensify scrutiny of the Secret Service and whether it is purposefully leaving the former president vulnerable.
Rep. Eli Crane, Arizona Republican, said Mr. Trump should increase his use of private bodyguards rather than rely on government agents to protect him.
“The United States Secret Service is not making wise security decisions, and President Trump should bolster his private security to fill these gaps,” Mr. Crane posted on X.
In an online interview with “The Benny Show,” Mr. Crane raised the possibility of an anti-Trump mole within the Secret Service, either on his protective team or high up in the agency. He said Mr. Trump needed private security, not only to fill the Secret Service gaps “but also to watch the watchers.”
Most lawmakers blame the two assassination attempts on plain incompetence, but a new public poll shows Democrats may be hoping the third try is successful.
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A Napolitan News Service survey of 1,000 registered voters conducted online by RMG Research over the two days following the second assassination attempt found 28% of Democrats believed “America would be better off if Donald Trump had been killed last weekend.”
About 7% of Republicans said the same thing.
Among Democrats, 25% said they were unsure whether America would be better off without Mr. Trump, and 47% said America would not be better off.
The same poll showed 49% of Democrats think it is somewhat likely Mr. Trump or his campaign was involved in the assassination attempt, while 52% of Republicans think it’s somewhat likely Democrats or the Harris campaign were involved, including 28% who believe it’s very likely.
“It is hard to imagine a greater threat to democracy than expressing a desire to have your political opponent murdered,” said Scott Rasmussen, RMG Research president.
Republicans say the Secret Service is blocking them from finding out more about Mr. Trump’s government protection in the wake of the shooting in Butler County, Pennsylvania, which occurred July 13.
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On Wednesday, the Senate Homeland Security Committee advanced legislation authored by Sen. Josh Hawley, Missouri Republican, that would require the Secret Service to turn over all information related to the Butler assassination attempt on Mr. Trump.
The agency has failed to determine a motive for the shooter, who was shot and killed by a Secret Service agent, and questions remain about how he was able to position himself on a rooftop with a rifle just a few hundred yards away from the former president. The would-be assassin in Butler fired several shots, one of which grazed the president in the ear. One rally attendee was killed, and two others were seriously wounded.
The shooter was able to fire off shots even though he was identified as a person of interest more than an hour before Mr. Trump took the stage in Butler, was spotted with a rangefinder and was even able to fly a drone near the rally site earlier in the afternoon.
Republicans view Sunday’s assassination attempt, this time in Florida, as an indictment of the government agencies — the Secret Service and the FBI — that are supposed to protect the former president.
The alleged would-be shooter, Ryan Routh, was able to hide undetected for 12 hours in the bushes along the sixth hole of the Trump International Golf Course in West Palm Beach with a scoped AK-47 rifle, presumably waiting for the former president to approach with his golfing party.
“Yesterday’s would-be Trump assassin was on the golf course for 12 hours before Secret Service ID’d him. The Butler shooter was on site long before he took his first shot,” Mr. Hawley, Missouri Republican, posted on social media. “This is a dangerous pattern. Secret Service needs to tell us what’s going on. And what they’re doing to stop it.”
Mr. Hawley on Monday released the full details of a whistleblower report with findings described as “highly damaging to the credibility of the Secret Service and the Department of Homeland Security,” including a pattern of negligence, sloppiness and “gross incompetence,” dating back years and which culminated in the Butler rally shooting that nearly killed Mr. Trump.
Among the newly revealed claims is one from whistleblowers who say the Secret Service failed to deploy one of its intelligence units, which pair with state and local law enforcement to investigate suspicious persons, to the Butler rally. The report also disclosed that the hospital that treated Mr. Trump following the shooting was not adequately secured and, according to the whistleblower, that the lead Secret Service agent responsible for securing the rally site was “known to be incompetent.”
A report about the Butler shooting was expected this week from the Secret Service, but the second assassination attempt may delay it. Secret Service officials planned a virtual briefing Wednesday with members of a House task force investigating both assassination attempts.
Senators met with Secret Service officials this month for a briefing on the incident, but few details were made public, spurring more suspicion about the lack of transparency.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat overseeing the investigation of the Secret Service, said Americans would be “shocked, astonished and appalled” by the agency’s failures leading up to the assassination attempt. He said the Homeland Security Department, which oversees the Secret Service, is stonewalling Congress.
Sen. Ron. Johnson, Wisconsin Republican, said the Democrat-led investigative panel should issue subpoenas to obtain the information. The Secret Service and FBI, he said, are slow-walking providing witnesses to Congress and cannot be trusted.
“There are far more questions outstanding than answers being provided regarding the July 13th assassination attempt against President Trump,” Mr. Johnson posted on X.
The second assassination attempt did little to tame attacks from Democrats, who continue to paint Mr. Trump as a threat to the country.
On Monday, former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, who lost to Mr. Trump in 2016, in an MSNBC interview, called the former president a “very dangerous man” who would “do harm to the country and the world” if he wins another term.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre brushed off blame that the vitriol is spurring the attempts on Mr. Trump’s life. She called such an assertion “dangerous” and said President Biden “has been clear-eyed about the threat that the former president represents to our democracy.”
She pointed to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol involving thousands of Trump supporters who marched there after Mr. Trump disputed the presidential election results that declared Mr. Biden as the winner.
“He refused to accept the outcomes of free and fair elections,” Ms. Jean-Pierre said.
This week, Mr. Trump credited the Secret Service with ramping up his protection. Meanwhile, Congress is weighing additional funding for the agency, which says it is operating with a staffing shortage.
Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe on Monday praised the agents for preventing the assassination attempt. They spotted Mr. Routh in the bushes and fired at him before he could get Mr. Trump in his line of sight.
“The protective methodologies of the Secret Service were effective yesterday,” Mr. Rowe said.
• Susan Ferrechio can be reached at sferrechio@washingtontimes.com.