Retired Army Lt. Col. Tony Shaffer told Newsmax on Friday that he was satisfied with security that surrounded Donald Trump during a rally that he attended in Virginia on June 28 but not with the detail during the assassination attempt on the former president last week.
Appearing on "The Chris Salcedo Show," Shaffer was responding to Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., saying multiple whistleblowers contacted his office to allege security at Trump's rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13 was considered to be a "loose" security event.
Trump was struck in the right ear by a bullet fired by Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, in an assassination attempt. One crowd member was killed, and two others were injured.
"I attended the rally in Chesapeake, Virginia, three weeks ago today, and I saw for myself you had a mixture of Secret Service, who have the five-pointed star badges, versus the shields, which are DHS [Department of Homeland Security]," Shaffer said. "Frankly, DHS [agents] are not trained to the standard of Secret Service. Period. And when you inject the DHS folks, they're not trained.
"That's why you saw the Keystone Cops-like removal of President Trump from the stage. You had two people knowing what they're doing. The others, I think, were almost like, kind of, tourists on the stage. That's what they acted like. And this is not adequate for any president."
Shaffer said he has been on personal security detachment details and knows how they should be conducted.
"I can tell you, Virginia knew how to do it," he said. "Virginia did it right. They protected him. There was overlapping and continuous security. And in this case … until we get incontrovertible facts, I'm going to hold back on my overall opinion of what happened here. But it's not good."
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Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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