Former Secret Service agent: Attack on Trump shows ‘It’s a very dangerous world’

National Catholic Register, Jul 16, 2024 / 13:20 pm

The American public should avoid rushing to judgments before knowing the facts of the assassination attempt on former president Donald Trump, a former Secret Service agent told “EWTN News Nightly” on Monday.

“I assure you, every vulnerability was known, and there were mitigative measures put in place,” said Paul Eckloff, a 23-year veteran of the Secret Service who served in the Presidential Protective Division during the George W. Bush, Obama, and Trump administrations. 

“But, sadly, as we saw on Saturday, no protective plan or operation is perfect,” he added. “They’re designed by men and women, and they can be defeated by them.”

Eckloff said security planning is “not an exact science, and it’s a very dangerous world.” 

He told “EWTN News Nightly” the Secret Service likely only had a few days to prepare for the July 13 Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. He said agents, officers, and technicians meet with local and state law enforcement in the days leading up to events like the rally. 

“President Trump has far more security than the average former president; and as the primary candidate for the Republican Party, he has some assets that others may not — approaching the presidential level of protection,” Eckloff said. 

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a White House press briefing Monday that the security of Trump and President Joe Biden is one of the “most vital priorities” of the Biden administration, the Secret Service, the FBI, and partners within the federal government. 

“Both prior to and after the events of this past weekend, the Secret Service enhanced former president Trump’s protection based on the evolving nature of threats to the former president,” Mayorkas said.

Mayorkas said protective measures at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee this week will include personnel and technology such as anti-scale fencing and screening technology. He also told reporters the FBI is leading a criminal investigation and an independent review to analyze security measures “before, during, and after” the Trump rally in Butler.

Eckloff said he himself has “more questions than the public would ask” about Saturday’s attempted assassination of Trump, but he said eyewitness testimonies can be flawed, particularly when recalling the amount of time passed, referring to the viral BBC interview of a man saying he warned a police officer of the attempted assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks on the roof. Eckloff also explained that an officer cannot leave his post and is limited to communication via radio.

“The questions need to be asked about the security of the building that the shooter scaled and about the police interactions that potentially spurred his rapid action and allowed the counter sniper to neutralize,” Eckloff said. 

The counter-sniper who shot and killed Crooks had only a “split second” to realize Crooks was a threat and shoot him, he told “EWTN News Nightly.”

“I think it’s important for people to understand the superhuman things you’re asking from humans,” he said. “If he had shot an innocent individual trying to get a view of the former president without a weapon, we’d be having a very different conversation.”

He said there “justifiably will be criticisms” regarding the security plan, but he doesn’t believe anyone should question “the dedication and the sacrifice” the men and women in the Secret Service demonstrated at the rally.

“You can ask questions, you can demand better, but to publicly eviscerate the men and women who threw their bodies, who put that vest on — not to save their own lives, but to save former president Trump — I just wish more people would recognize the heroism that we saw on Saturday afternoon,” he said.

Eckloff said former Secret Service agents like himself have a unique response to the deadly events of Saturday evening. 

“What former agents feel is something I don’t know any other American or anybody else on Earth feels,” Eckloff said. “We wish we were there. We wish it happened on our watch because we know that we can add to it, we can help reach and save the former president or president. It’s like we want to dive into the screen and use our bodies to shield the problem.”

Eckloff also said his “heart goes out” to Corey Comperatore, a rally attendee and devout Christian husband and father who was killed shielding his family, comparing his sacrificial actions to that of a Secret Service agent. 

This story was first published by the National Catholic Register, CNA’s sister news partner, and has been adapted by CNA.