"President Donald Trump has revoked the Secret Service detail for former vice president Kamala Harris.... The decision comes about a month before Harris... is scheduled to embark on a national book tour..."

"... her first extended public exposure since leaving office. Federal law gives vice presidents six months of Secret Service protection after they leave office, though Biden, before his presidency ended, had extended her detail for another year, according to a person familiar with the decision.... With the termination of the Harris detail, Trump has canceled security for every protected holdover from the Biden administration except Biden and former first lady Jill Biden, who by law are guaranteed lifetime Secret Service protection. High-ranking administration officials are not automatically guaranteed protection after leaving government, nor are children of former presidents over the age of 16...."

WaPo reports.

"The Secret Service failed to prevent the assassination attempt against Donald Trump last year at his Pennsylvania campaign rally, according to a Senate committe[e] report..."

"... which accuses the agency of a botched operation snarled by communication fumbles and the repeated denial of extra security assets at a time when the former president faced heightened threats on his life.... The report shed no new light about the assailant’s motives — which remain a mystery to investigators one year on — but painted a picture of an expansive security detail that was erroneously left in the dark as an assassination attempt unfolded. The committee identified several Secret Service failures to properly disseminate information about a suspicious person — later determined to be Crooks — and his whereabouts. Its investigation also uncovered conflicting reports about who knew what, and when...."

From "Secret Service failed to stop Trump assassination attempt, Senate report says/The report from the Homeland Security Committee accuses the Secret Service of fumbling communications and denying extra security at the Pennsylvania rally last year" (WaPo).

I clicked into the comments...

"Padilla... actually received preferential treatment by not being arrested and jailed for his menacing display."

"The Secret Service agent warned [California Sen. Alex] Padilla, whom agents did not recognize as a senator and who wasn’t wearing his Senate pin, to back away from Noem and then forcibly removed him when he ignored their entreaties. 'They can represent this however they want, but those agents made the right decision to get him out of the room,' Charles Marino, a former Secret Service agent told RealClearPolitics. 'He did not have a congressional pin on, he was yelling and closing distance very quickly to make it to the front of the room to confront Noem. Look, he’s not above the law. Anyone taking those actions would been treated far worse – they would have been arrested and been forced to spend some time in jail...."

Writes Susan Crabtree, in "Secret Service Followed Protocol in Padilla Incident" (Real Clear Politics).

"'Any sudden movement towards a protectee that feels threatening, especially when that person has not been identified, the policy is 100% to prevent further escalation or movement toward Noem,' said a source in the Secret Service community.... After the two assassination attempts against Trump, agents are highly attuned to aggressive behavior and working to ensure they’re not involved in any security lapses...."

Apparently, they didn't know who he was, but what if they had? Is he saying he deserves special treatment? The "Don't You Know Who I Am?!" argument ought to fail.

The protectee was protected by those entrusted with protecting her. 

"Hunter Biden has had Secret Service protection for an extended period of time, all paid for by the United States Taxpayer."

"There are as many as 18 people on this Detail, which is ridiculous! He is currently vacationing in, of all places, South Africa, where the Human Rights of people has been strenuously questioned. Because of this, South Africa has been taken off our list of Countries receiving Economic and Financial Assistance. Please be advised that, effective immediately, Hunter Biden will no longer receive Secret Service protection. Likewise, Ashley Biden who has 13 agents will be taken off the list."

Writes Donald Trump, at Truth Social.

Awful yelling in Congress today.

Secret Service chief Ronald Rowe Jr. got into a screaming match with a GOP lawmaker over 9/11 during an otherwise cordial hearing. https://t.co/SK6rnmRGdj pic.twitter.com/eKwBOkO1mN

— POLITICO (@politico) December 5, 2024

"Big threats on my life by Iran. The entire U.S. Military is watching and waiting. Moves were already made by Iran that didn’t work out..."

"... but they will try again. Not a good situation for anyone. I am surrounded by more men, guns, and weapons than I have ever seen before. Thank you to Congress for unanimously approving far more money to Secret Service - Zero 'NO' Votes, strictly bipartisan. Nice to see Republicans and Democrats get together on something. An attack on a former President is a Death Wish for the attacker!"

Writes Donald Trump, at X.

Here's some background at Axios:

"I'm a gun owner... and if somebody breaks in my house, they're getting shot... Probably should not have said that, but my staff will deal with that later."

Said Kamala Harris, at last night's Oprah event:

1. Where does her prosecutor persona come into play here? She knows it's not good legal advice to encourage people to go ahead and shoot a person who has broken into the house but not yet physically threatened you.

2. That's why she said "probably should not have said that." She knows it's bad, but she almost seems to want to display herself as somewhat bad. She’s been trying to come across as one of us, a "middle class" American, fond of our guns and adamant about protecting our family inside the home. She needs to replace the image that she's that person who said — in 2007 video that went viral yesterday — "Just because you legally possess a gun in the sanctity of your locked home doesn't mean that we're not going to walk into that home and check to see if you're being responsible and safe in the way you conduct your affairs."

3. Which Kamala is she — the one who walks into your house to check to see if you're being responsible or the one that shoots the person who walks into her home? I suspect she isn't really either person, but is simply saying what seemed worth saying at the time.

4. Don't get me started on the distinction between "breaking" into the home and "walking" into the home. I see it, and you can do your own legal research. I read her first comment to create an image of finding someone in her house and shooting him because he's there, and I read her second statement to say that she would use the authority of the state to gain access to the homes of people who are not opening the door and inviting her in.

5. She's portraying herself as the lone armed protector of her home, but we all know she has the Secret Service protecting her. 

6. My favorite part of the quote is "but my staff will deal with that later." The staff will clean up after me. I'd like to see the Harris impersonators do a scene where Kamala is President, making wild, impulsive decisions, then laughing, and saying lightheartedly — as World War III begins — "my staff will deal with that later."

"The Secret Service plans to surround Trump's podium with bulletproof glass.... While this measure is typically used to protect sitting presidents..."

"... the Secret Service is making an exception after the Butler, Pennsylvania, rally on July 13, when the gunman took several shots at Trump, grazing his ear before a Secret Service sniper killed him.... The Secret Service typically pre-positions personnel around the country in battleground states so they can be within driving distance of campaign rallies, which enables faster transportation of the ballistic glass to events...."

From "Trump to resume outdoor rallies with bulletproof glass" (CBS News).

Trump's rallies are much better when they are outdoors. To have restricted him to indoor rallies would have reined him in, so this undercuts the widely believed notion that "they" will do "anything" to stop Trump.

"A whistleblower alleged that Secret Service acting Director Ronald Rowe personally cut security resources and 'retaliated'..."

"... against agents with security concerns leading up to former President Donald Trump’s rally on July 13, according to a letter released Thursday."

From "Acting Secret Service Chief ‘Retaliated Against’ Agents Who Had Security Concerns At Trump Event, Whistleblower Claims" (Daily Caller).

🚨🚨 NEW - Whistleblower tells me Secret Service Acting Director Rowe personally directed cuts to the USSS agents who do threat assessments for events. Whistleblower says those agents were NOT present in Butler - and some of them had warned of security problems for months pic.twitter.com/v9igQ5L7FZ

— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) August 1, 2024

"The discussion revolves around a video showing a person moving on a rooftop near where President Trump was shot, leading to widespread speculation..."

"... that the incident was an inside job. Many users express disbelief that the Secret Service and FBI could have missed the shooter, suggesting intentional negligence or involvement. The video, obtained by Fox News, has fueled further theories and calls for accountability, with some users pointing to additional suspicious activities and connections related to the event. The overall sentiment is one of deep distrust in government and media, with a strong belief that the incident was orchestrated from within the security apparatus."

Grok attempts to summarize the discussion at X.

Here's the Fox News story: "Video from Trump assassination attempt victim's POV shows figure moving on roof moments before gunfire/James Copenhaver was shot twice and critically wounded during the assassination attempt against Trump." Copenhaver, we're told, took the video (but he was not taking video at the time he was shot).

"Secret Service Director Resigns... Kimberly A. Cheatle gave up her post Tuesday after security failures that allowed a gunman to shoot at former President Donald J. Trump at an open-air rally."

The NYT reports. 

“I do not want my calls for resignation to be a distraction from the great work each and every one of you do towards our vital mission,” Ms. Cheatle said in [email to the Secret Service], which was reviewed by The New York Times.

She was monumentally horrible at the hearing yesterday.  

The impassive Kimberly Cheatle is getting raked over the coals.

ADDED:  The NYT has "some of the questions Ms. Cheatle was asked repeatedly that she did not answer":

"Law enforcement officials investigating the assassination attempt on Donald Trump told lawmakers Wednesday that 20 minutes passed between the time U.S. Secret Service snipers first spotted the gunman on a rooftop..."

"... and the time shots were fired at the former president, according to several law enforcement officials and lawmakers briefed on the matter. Officials said the snipers spotted the suspect, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, on the roof of a building outside the security zone at the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, at 5:52 p.m. ET. The shooting happened at 6:12 p.m. ET, 20 minutes later, the sources said.... The FBI director, his deputy director and the head of the Secret Service told lawmakers Crooks was identified as a person of interest a full 62 minutes before the shooting took place, according to the law enforcement officials and lawmakers briefed."

From "Secret Service spotted Trump rally shooter on roof 20 minutes before gunfire erupted/Investigators are trying to determine motive for Thomas Matthew Crooks" (ABC News).

According to the sources, the timeline presented in the briefing was as follows 

5:10 p.m. Crooks was first identified as a person of interest 

5:30 p.m. Crooks was spotted with a rangefinder 

5:52 p.m. Crooks was spotted on the roof by Secret Service 

6:02 p.m. Trump takes the stage 

6:12 p.m. Crooks fires first shots

Much more at the link. 

"There are basically four competing narratives or theories about what led to the assassination attempt against Donald Trump."

Writes Sean Davis (at X):

1) Through a combination of incompetence and innocent mistakes and garden-variety bureaucratic ineptitude, a gunman was able to penetrate security and take multiple shots at Trump. 

2) The right hand of the Biden security regime deliberately starved Trump’s security detail of resources and assigned a squad of C-team rejects to his detail knowing it would make Trump vulnerable. 

3) Includes all of option 2, but also includes the left hand of the Biden security regime independently but deliberately inciting and weaponizing, and potentially even hand-holding, mentally unwell freaks to take matters into their own hands and eliminate Trump (analogous to what the FBI did when it created and led the Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping and murder plot). 

4) The Biden regime itself explicitly attempted to assassinate Trump via its own shooter(s), and the named assassin is all deliberate misinformation and misdirection.

Go to the link to see where Davis says he is, but first take my survey:

Which of the 4 options seems most likely?

1

2

3

4

 

pollcode.com free polls

"Biden’s Team Deliberately Kneecapped Trump’s Security To Allow An Assassination Attempt."

Writes Sean Davis in The Federalist.

Very strong words. Read the whole thing. Excerpt:

"The gunman who fired shots at former President Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, Saturday night has been identified by the FBI as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks."

"Crooks was from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, about an hour south of Butler.... 'We do not currently have an identified motive,' said Kevin Rojek, FBI Pittsburgh special agent in charge.... A law enforcement official said early Sunday that there are no foreign terrorism ties known at this time and the suspect was not on the radar of law enforcement.... Federal investigators said the gunman was not carrying identification, so they analyzed his DNA to provide a biometric confirmation of his identity...."

CBS News reports.

That article also contains material about the seeming underperformance of the Secret Service:

Garnering conspiracy theories... and views.

I'm reading "Misinformation spreads swiftly in hours after Trump rally shooting/Conspiracy theories swell around false flags, Deep State, Biden and the Secret Service, filling the information vacuum as consumers choose their own reality" (WaPo)

Minutes after shots were fired, right-wing social media influencers and elected Republicans began insinuating that powerful figures were responsible, directly or indirectly, for the attempt. Rep. Mike Collins (R-Ga.) posted to X that “Joe Biden sent the orders,” garnering over 4 million views, and later called for Biden to face charges for “inciting an assassination.” 

More broadly on social media, a TikTok user who posts under the handle @theoldermillenial.1 told his 1.2 million followers, “I guess because the court cases weren’t going so well, they decided to try a different avenue. Guys, don’t forget, this is what the left is capable of.”.... 

[M]isinformation experts urged the public not to share unconfirmed information online.... But far-right channels on encrypted platforms were abuzz with a mixture of shock, rage and conspiracy theories. Triumphant slogans (“You missed!”) and calls for civil war captioned the instantly totemic image of a bloodied but defiant Trump raising a fist with the flag in the background. Without any clear word from authorities on suspects or motives, MAGA extremists instantly embraced the idea of a politically motivated assassination attempt. Disinformation swirled as trolls looked for easy clicks by sharing uncorroborated footage and information about people they claimed to be the assailant.

This makes it sound as though people were just exploiting the opportunity to draw traffic to their accounts, but it is the completely natural and uncontrollable need to communicate about an unfolding event. We're supposed to wait for "clear word from authorities"? We're still waiting for clear word from authorities about the JFK assassination!

TRUMP SHOT!

ALIVE

UP AND WALKING.

We were watching it live.

Rewatching: I see the bullet grazes the right side of his head above the ear. His hand goes up, almost like you'd swat a fly. He doesn't fall down. He crouches down. Secret Service everywhere. He gets up. We see the blood over his ear. As the Secret Service is about to hustle him out, he says "Wait, wait!," and he turns to crowd, angry look on his face, and shakes his fist hard four 4 times and we can read his lips: "Fight! Fight!"

There was a minute there where we didn't know if he had been killed or was dying, and we were in great distress. The relief when he stood up was insane.

God protected President Trump pic.twitter.com/96UKVdjF3A

— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) July 13, 2024

Does RFK Jr. still not have Secret Service protection?

I saw — blogged in the previous post — that RFK Jr. just called Joe Biden the first President in history to have "used his power over the Secret Service to deny Secret Service protection to one of his political opponents, for political reasons."

Here's an article in Newsweek from last month: "RFK Jr.'s Latest Secret Service Request Cites Specific Assassination Threat":

"Joe Biden’s dog Commander bit Secret Service agents 24 times."

The London Times reports.

[N]ewly released documents... only cover a nine-month period and members of the Secret Service, rather than all presidential staff, the true number of incidents could be much higher than the documents reveal. Previous reports had put the number of biting incidents at 11....