Trump’s team has complained in the wake of an assassination attempt that earlier requests for additional resources had been denied, while agency officials say he receives a heavier level of security than any other former president.
By Josh Dawsey and Carol D. Leonnig, The Washington PostSecret Service agents cover former president Donald Trump after a gunman shot at him during a campaign rally on July 13, 2024, in Butler, Pa. Trump was wounded during the attempted assassination. : Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post
The difficulties have prompted numerous arguments over the past 3½ years between agency officials, Trump and his advisers. His aides grew increasingly angry as many of their requests for additional security were rebuffed by the Secret Service, according to eight people familiar with the events, who like others for this story spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal discussions.
For example, at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Fla., Trump would often sit down in the dining room near all sorts of paying customers who had not been screened. Another person who had dinner at Mar-a-Lago in 2023 said he walked in and wasn’t screened by any security personnel as Trump wandered about.
Trump raises his arm as he’s helped into a vehicle after a bullet grazed him during a campaign rally in Butler, Pa., on July 13. Jabin Botsford/The Washington PostOne early fight came in 2021 after Trump returned to Mar-a-Lago, when his Secret Service detail grew concerned about several threats, according to people familiar with the matter.
Earlier this month, acting director Ronald Rowe said the agency had spent about $4 million on protecting Mar-a-Lago in the years since Trump left office. “There was a general concern that living in basically a hotel is not something the Secret Service ever had to deal with before,” said John Bolton, his former national security adviser. “It’s unnatural to what they have dealt with for presidents over the years.”
“It was a nightmare,” one senior Trump administration official said, because of all the surrounding buildings, the density of that part of Manhattan and traffic concerns. The Secret Service still has space in the building. Over the course of recent history, the Secret Service faced some similar protection challenges with former president Bill Clinton, who regularly made last-minute changes to his schedule, insisted on jogging on the National Mall and held a large number of public appearances shortly after he left office.
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