LOUISVILLE, Ky. — More than a week after the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, questions continue to emerge especially involving the United States Secret Service.
A retired U.S. Secret Service agent said mistakes need to be corrected.
“We think that the agents that responded on the stage, almost to the person, did an excellent job,” said Greg Gitschier, retired Secret Service Agent.
Gitschier served for 21 years.
“As a full-time agent. Yeah. So the whole story is I’ve helped protect/bodyguard six U.S. presidents, but some of those were former presidents,” Gitschier said.
On Saturday, July 13, at a Pennsylvania rally, Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, executed an assassination attempt on Donald Trump.
Gitschier explains what went right.
“You saw how everyone jumped on the stage. They kind of surrounded him. And, to his (Trump) credit, he looked like he dropped immediately to the ground as the agents were getting there. Now he knows that that bunting, and this is not a secret, it’s on the news, that bunting is armored,” Gitschier said.
He also shared his perspective on what went wrong.
“One of the issues that has come up, and you’ve probably seen in the comments, is that one of the agents was a lot shorter than the 6’3 and a half Donald Trump. The bad thing about that, unfortunately, is that exposed part of his chest and his head, you know, to another shot. Because we don’t know if that was all the shots. We don’t know if there’s another shooter somewhere,” Gitschier said.
The U.S. Secure Service said Secret Service agents shot and killed Crooks immediately following the attempt.
“So obviously, the bottom line is that the Secret Service is wrong. I love the Secret Service. It’s hard for me to criticize them. You know, I’m sitting in this chair and nobody’s shooting at me. I could be an expert, right? But somebody obviously should have had that roof under control. And the CAT team, I think, did as well as you could be expected, okay? The counter-snipers is the problem,” Gitschier said.
He questions whether this attempt was because of a lack of resources or a security oversight.
“Now, I’ve been told by very good sources that we were only allowed two counter-sniper teams, or we are given two, whatever the word is. And both of them were on top of the president behind them, looking out over the crowd. But they’re kind of looking forward, like this, and the threat came from what I remember very hard right. So what they did is, I’ve been told, they assigned that to the local law enforcement agency,” Gitschier said.
Following the assassination attempt, President Joe Biden promised a full review and report on what transpired before the rally.
“I don’t want anyone to hide any facts. You know, everyone has to do their job and I’m talking now about my agency, the Secret Service, if we made mistakes, sounds like we might have, that we have to correct them right away. So this never happens again,” Gitschier said.
Meanwhile, the FBI continues this investigation.
On Monday, July 22, U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle will address the House Oversight and Accountability Committee. It’s the first Congressional hearing into the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump.