ST. LOUIS — Questions over security are surfacing after an attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump on Saturday.
A gunman fired multiple shots from an AR-style rifle at the presidential candidate from an elevated position outside the rally venue in Pennsylvania.
"He turned his head, and the bullet just caught his ear, and he was very, very lucky. God was with him that day," said Michael Barbieri, the principal of Global Intelligence Consultants Executive Protection Division. "The advanced team gets out there long before they do a threat assessment of the complete area. Why the rooftop of this particular building was not covered seems to be in question."
Barbieri has worked in executive protection in all third-world countries for nearly 25 years with training from the Secret Service charged with saving Trump's life.
As the FBI opens an investigation into why the 20-year-old shooter was able to get so close, Barbieri echoed questions similar to the public.
"If they're using advanced technology. Drones are obviously advanced technology helicopters are, you know, normally pretty standard technology. When you're looking at a crowd of thousands of people. So that's the question." It is unclear if the agency used those resources specifically.
The Secret Service released this statement on Sunday morning:
The assertion that a member of the former President’s security team requested additional security resources that the U.S. Secret Service or the Department of Homeland Security rebuffed is absolutely false. In fact, recently the U.S. Secret Service added protective resources and capabilities to the former President’s security detail.
The former President, and the current President, are commonly subject to threats. The U. S. Secret Service takes threats seriously, and it takes actions based on those threats as warranted. The U.S. Secret Service is constantly evaluating the very dynamic threat environment and responding to it in the fulfillment of its responsibilities.
Large crowds are expected to attend both the upcoming Republican National Convention and the Democratic National Convention.
"Oh, I'm sure they're going to beef up all the security for everybody, including President Biden."
Barbieri offered advice for the public planning to attend.
"When you're in a crowd you're always looking for unusual things, people that are walking around with coats on when you don't need to have a coat, people have their hands in their pockets, but when you start to hear the shots ring out, the 1st thing you really, truly need to do is hit the ground and get down," he said.
It is unclear if there will be any changes to Trump's security detail for his party's planned convention in Milwaukee this week.