CNN’s Jim Acosta claimed during his afternoon segment on Tuesday that it was “wildly irresponsible” for former President Donald Trump to accurately note that the U.S. Secret Service failed to protect him from an attempted assassination that left him with a wounded ear.
“The Biden/Harris Administration did not properly protect me, and I was forced to take a bullet for Democracy. IT WAS MY GREAT HONOR TO DO SO!” former President Donald Trump wrote Tuesday on Truth Social.
The 2024 Republican presidential nominee also pointed out shortly after U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned in disgrace that she “never gave me proper protection, so I ended up having to take a bullet for democracy.”
“When you hear the former president saying something like that, what’s your reaction?” Acosta asked his guest. “I mean, obviously, the Secret Service is a professional operation. To say something like ‘they did not protect me,’ it just sounds just wildly irresponsible.”
Acosta’s insinuation that the Secret Service offered Trump adequate protection on July 13 is not only factually inaccurate, but it’s also “wildly irresponsible.”
As The Federalist’s Sean Davis reported shortly after the attempted assassination, Trump’s security detail was denied “beefed up protection and resources” by Biden’s security regime.
Secret Service Spokesman Anthony Guglielmi initially pretended that the verified reporting was “absolutely false.” Even after admitting to The Washington Post that his statement was a lie, Guglielmi’s post insisting that “added protective resources & technology & capabilities as part of the increased campaign travel tempo” remained untouched.
Further reporting about the problems that plagued the Butler, Pennsylvania, agricultural grounds revealed law enforcement did not sweep the building used by the shooter, which was left outside of the security team’s perimeter. Nor did they do anything to detain the assassin after rallygoers and police officers alike pinned him as a person of interest.
Cheatle’s resignation comes 10 days after either deliberate failures or deficiency by her agency allowed a 20-year-old shooter to take a rooftop shot at the Republican during his Butler rally. The spray of bullets that ensued not only hit Trump’s ear, but seriously injured two others, and killed beloved husband and “real-life superhero” Corey Comperatore.
Even if Trump had not been hit, former Secret Service special agent Ken Valentine told The Federalist that the agency failed to accomplish its “mission and goal.”
“Prevention, Plan A. That’s the mission and the goal of the Secret Service, to prevent, to thwart, to make sure that these things don’t happen. Plan B is reaction,” he said.