Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-GA) said that House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has “demanded” that President Joe Biden increase security for former President Donald Trump following the second assassination attempt.
During the period Interview To And Amanda Head During the podcast, Clyde criticized Democrats for continuing to use “explosive rhetoric” that will “continue to hurt people.”
Republican presidential candidate and former president Donald Trump is surrounded by U.S. Secret Service agents as he is escorted off the stage after being shot at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 2024. People across the political spectrum have wondered how a gunman was able to get so close to Trump, who was supposedly under heavy guard. (Jean J. Puskar, File/The Associated Press)
Asked whether “there was anything Congress could do” to improve security for Trump or support the Secret Service in the wake of the two assassination attempts, Clyde said Johnson had asked Biden to give Trump “the exact same level of protection” as he gives himself.
“Chairman Johnson said at a press conference yesterday that he called President Biden and requested that President Biden provide the exact same level of protection that he is providing to President Trump,” Clyde explained.
Clyde's comments came nearly a week after Ryan Wesley Routh was arrested after Secret Service agents found him hiding in bushes near the Trump International Golf Course, where the former president plays, pointing an AK-style rifle over a fence.
A photo taken after the assassination attempt on former Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump shows an AK-47 rifle, a backpack and a Go-Pro camera hanging on a fence outside Trump International Golf Club, during a news conference at the Palm Beach County Library in West Palm Beach, Fla., Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (Stephanie Mattat/The Associated Press)
“I don't believe the Secret Service needs additional funding,” Clyde added. “What's needed is a re-prioritization.”
The second assassination attempt came after Trump was shot above his right ear with a “penetrating bullet” during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13. Trump was wounded when suspect Thomas Matthew Crooks allegedly opened fire from the roof of a nearby building, with the former president in direct line of sight.
Former Pennsylvania fire chief Corey Comperatore was shot and killed after shielding his daughter and wife by throwing them to the ground at the rally where President Trump was shot. Two other men, James Copenhaver and David Duch, were also wounded.
In the aftermath of the first assassination attempt on President Trump, the Secret Service has come under fire for a number of security lapses surrounding the Butler rally.
