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Former president Donald Trump was the victim of an apparent assassination attempt as he spoke at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday. A number of shots were fired, Trump then clasped his ear and ducked behind his podium. The Republican presidential nominee is safe and only mildly injured. Regrettably, at least one person in the crowd behind Trump appears to have been shot and killed alongside the shooter.
Much remains unclear but we can make two points immediately.
First, the Secret Service did a good job. Witness testimony suggests that the local police apparently failed to relay the gunman’s reported position to the Secret Service in advance of his attack. Still, the first Secret Service agent leapt up onto the stage and covered Trump three seconds after the first shot was fired. Multiple other agents then swarmed Trump within the next one to two seconds.
Having covered the former president, we heard agents noting “Haweye is here” (the codename for the Secret Service Counter Assault Teams). These are the SWAT-type agents who arrived on the stage and who are responsible for engaging assailants so that a protectee can be evacuated. The mix of CAT and detail agents, guns drawn, then evacuated Trump to his motorcade. Video shows what appears to be the prospective assassin on top of a nearby building. His elevated position covered from the ground indicates he may have been killed by the Secret Service’s counter sniper team. The Secret Service has shown here why good training and preparation matter immensely when it comes to protective security.
Trump also deserves great credit. He was both courageous and defiant. Defiant both of the attacker and, predictably if perhaps less auspiciously, of his Secret Service detail.
In audio and video following the shots that will surely boost his campaign, the former president was heard demanding that he be allowed to put on his shoes back on before leaving the stage. He then demanded the agents let him fist bump the crowd before being evacuated. Video shows Trump attempting to then stand to salute the crowd when he reaches his armored Cadillac. Apparently the breaking point for Trump’s detail, agents were then seen literally pushing Trump into the vehicle and following him in (to assess his injuries). Regardless, the story for Trump will be that of a photo taken by the AP which shows the bloody eared former president with the American flag in his backdrop.
Top line: this is a tragedy. But the assassin did not succeed.
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