The Secret Service acknowledged Saturday that it had turned down requests of additional resources sought by former President Donald Trump’s security detail in the two years leading up to his attempted assassination last week, a reversal from earlier statements by the agency denying that such requests had been rebuffed.
Almost immediately after a gunman shot at Trump from a nearby warehouse roof while he spoke at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, last weekend, the Secret Service faced accusations from Republicans and anonymous law enforcement officials that it had turned down requests for additional agents to secure Trump’s rallies.
"There’s an untrue assertion that a member of the former president’s team requested additional resources and that those were rebuffed,” Anthony Guglielmi, a spokesperson for the Secret Service, said last Sunday, the day after the shooting.