Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Alabama) on Monday lamented the security measures put in place following the second assassination attempt on the Republican candidate and suggested that Navy SEALs be deployed to protect former President Trump.
“I don't know who's running this country, but somebody needs to step up and at least act like they care about the Republican candidates, and they really don't care,” Tuberville said in an interview with Fox Business' Larry Kudlow. “They don't care at all.”
“We need SEAL teams. We need an army,” he continued. “Larry, I don't know what these people are thinking.”
The Hill has asked the White House for a response.
Tuberville's call for increased security comes after a second assassination attempt occurred on President Trump on Sunday while he was playing golf at a course in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Secret Service agents stationed at several nearby holes noticed a man with a rifle pointing around the course, the rifle protruding from a patch of brush about 300 to 500 yards away.
Secret Service agents fired at the man, who dropped an AK-47 style rifle and fled in a vehicle. Authorities later arrested the suspect, Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, and charged him with federal firearms offenses.
The suspect was apprehended before he could do any harm, a big improvement over the first assassination attempt on Trump, which took place during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July. That incident drew intense scrutiny over the Secret Service's failure to protect the president from a bullet that grazed his ear and subsequently led to the resignation of then-Director Kimberly Cheatle. But the attempt has raised new concerns about the level of security surrounding the former president.
In an interview Monday, Tuberville said the Republican presidential candidate should have the highest level of security possible.
“And of course, Chuck Schumer [Mitch] “McConnell and the people here are running around with all kinds of security in Washington, D.C., but the only person whose life we have to protect is Donald Trump, and they refuse to do that,” he added, referring to the Senate leadership.
Amid questions about the level of security for Trump, Rep. Russ Fulcher (R-Idaho) suggested Monday that Trump consider hiring private security.
“If I were President Trump and my goal was to survive, I would look at a variety of options, including private security, to meet some of these needs,” Fulcher said in an interview with NewsNation's “The Hill.”
