OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
A second suspected attempt at assassination this weekend prompted former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe to ask for a “rethinking” of the strategies employed to shield former President Donald Trump.
In a CNN interview, McCabe stated that the Trump protection system functioned as it should, raising questions about whether the procedures need to be improved.
CNN anchor Anderson Cooper asked: “Andrew, I mean, how is it possible that the suspect would have been in the vicinity for nearly 12 hours without being spotted by law enforcement, were just talking with Jonathan jon about the location that there‘s restaurants and a parking lot across the way don‘t know if his vehicle was parked in there when he was shot at by Secret Service and he ran across the road or if it was just parked on the side of the road, but was parked on the side of the road. You would think that might have drawn some attention?”
“Yeah. I doubt that he left it on the side of the road. There‘s not really an easy you‘re kind of an inconspicuous way to leave that vehicle there certainly for that period of time,” McCabe began.
“So I think it‘s a fair guess that it was parked somewhere in the locations that jon and Jonathan we‘re referring to the bigger question for me Anderson is how is a person secret I.d. for some period of time, maybe that the entire 12 hours, maybe some portion thereof, literally against the fence, probably 20 yards, 25 yards or less from the tee box, the seventh hole tee box, where the president would be teeing off a fee if he had not been caught is a strange place for the service to be in because two things are true at the same time,” McCabe continued.
He added, “One, the plan that they had in place worked the advanced agents saw the gun barrel, they engaged the target with fire and that mitigated the threat they‘re strategy worked as planned. But the question is, how good is the strategy when it overlooks an assassin lying in wait 25 yards away from where the president is going to be. If you don‘t see that gun barrel, I think this is really got to provoke a rethinking of these Secret Service methodologies at least in terms of how they‘re applying them to this president who we know is the repeated target of of pretty serious threats.”
WATCH:
Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw and other law enforcement authorities shared details on the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump at his golf club in Florida, as well as the proximity of Trump to the assassin.
In an interview with reporters, Bradshaw revealed that a Secret Service member had stopped the purportedly planned attempt when they observed the rifle’s barrel close to the following hole Trump would play on the course.
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris responded shortly after Trump was deemed “safe” after shots were fired near Trump National Golf Club on Sunday.
According to numerous reports, shots were fired on Sunday at or near the Trump National Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, where Trump, the GOP contender for president in 2024, was playing golf.
The White House said in a statement that Biden and Harris had received a briefing and would continue to receive updates regarding the investigation. The White House said that they are “relieved to know that he is safe.”
Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis announced on Twitter that his state would investigate the apparent assassination attempt on Trump: “The people deserve the truth about the would-be assassin and how he was able to get within 500 yards of the former president and current GOP nominee,” DeSantis wrote on social media.
