Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), leader of then-Speaker Rep. Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) now-disbanded Select Committee on January 6, introduced a bill in April 2024 targeting former President Donald Trump and stripping him of Secret Service protection if convicted.
President Trump was the victim of an assassination attempt at a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday, with Secret Service agents on the president within seconds of the shooting starting.
The shooter and one bystander were reportedly killed.
“Unfortunately, current law does not predict how Secret Service protection will affect the felony conviction of a protected individual, even a former president,” Thompson said. Official Statement “It’s unfortunate that it has come to this, but a previously unthinkable scenario may become reality, so we must be prepared and change our laws,” he said when introducing the bill. “We need to ensure that protected status does not mean special treatment, and that Americans can be assured that those sentenced to prison will serve any necessary sentence.”
Leading Democratic lawmakers have introduced legislation aimed at stripping President Trump of Secret Service protection.
They did so at the same time that Joe Biden called Trump a “dictator” and Nancy Pelosi said he “must be stopped.” pic.twitter.com/x0L5Lq93bz
— Alex Pfeiffer (@__Pfeiffer) July 13, 2024
Thompson is the top Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee, which is charged with keeping Americans safe.
At the time, Breitbart reported:
Denying unlimited security and government resources to those who have been convicted and are highly dishonored (Dishonored) The old protected persons law states that “protection terminates upon the imposition of a sentence following conviction of a federal or state crime punishable by imprisonment of at least one year.”
Thompson Assert A fact sheet on the Disgraced Former Protected Persons Act states that the bill “would eliminate potential power conflicts within prisons and allow judges to determine individual sentences without considering the logistical concerns of inmates under Secret Service protection.”
Trump is not named in the bill’s text, but the fact sheet notes that “the unprecedented indictment of former President Donald J. Trump on 91 felony counts in federal and state courts across the country creates a new emergency that Congress must address to ensure that Secret Service protection does not impede the criminal justice process and the administration of justice.”
The fact sheet also notes that Thompson’s proposed bill “applies to former President Trump.”
Byron York, Washington Examiner, pointed out post The underlying “clear, unspoken meaning” of the X interview, York writes, is that taking away Trump’s Secret Service “will make it easier for someone to kill Trump.”
The January 6th committee was led by Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson. The committee is a mix of show trial and reality TV elements, with a singular focus on Trump, of course. Thompson now wants to strip Trump of his Secret Service protection if he is found guilty of any of the 88 felony charges he has been charged with by Democratic elected prosecutors and Biden Justice Department appointees. The obvious implication here is that stripping the USSS would make it easier to kill Trump, which is likely the purpose of Thompson’s bill, HR 8081: The Disgraced Former Protectors Act.
Trump has accused Thompson’s January 6 commission of being a sham and weaponized political experiment, and transcripts released this year revealed the commission suppressed and even destroyed evidence that would have exonerated Trump.
Weeks after Thompson introduced his bill, Trump was convicted in a Manhattan courtroom, but the sentencing has been delayed and the conviction could be overturned due to a Supreme Court ruling that could invalidate some of the evidence used to convict Trump.
Bradley Jay is Capitol Hill correspondent for Breitbart News. Follow him on X/Twitter. translator.
