The head of the Secret Service told Donald Trump in a private meeting that he would need significant new security measures if he wanted to continue playing golf, the New York Times reported on Tuesday.
According to the newspaper, Trump asked Secret Service Acting Director Ronald Rowe in a meeting on Monday if it was safe for him to continue playing. Rowe said the Secret Service finds the golf course at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland easier to secure because it is a military course.
The meeting came a day after the Secret Service foiled a second assassination attempt on Trump in less than two months. On Sunday, Secret Service agents shot Ryan Wesley Routh, a would-be assassin, when they saw the barrel of his gun protruding from a fence at Trump’s golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida, and he was later arrested by local police officers.
The incident has raised questions among Trump supporters and lawmakers about whether Trump’s security is adequate.
“Former President Trump is receiving the highest level of protection the U.S. Secret Service can provide, and we will continue to evaluate and adjust our specific protective measures and procedures based on each location and situation,” Secret Service spokeswoman Melissa McKenzie said Tuesday.
Still, at least one local official suggested the opposite. On Sunday, West Palm Beach Sheriff Ric Bradshaw told reporters that Trump’s security was not as strict as that of a sitting president.
Since the incident, both Democrats and Republicans have accused each other of using inciting rhetoric that is inciting political violence.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a press briefing on Tuesday that comments by Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance that there was no assassination attempt on Vice President Kamala Harris are dangerous.
“The big difference between conservatives and liberals is … nobody has tried to kill Kamala Harris in the last few months,” Vance said Monday.
Jean-Pierre said that language could put Harris in danger.
“When you make comments like that, it makes people listen to you and they potentially take you very seriously, so that kind of rhetoric is dangerous,” he said.
Trump was scheduled to speak at a campaign event in Michigan on Tuesday evening, his first public political event since the assassination attempt over the weekend.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)