Secret service pulled personnel from Biden's protective team to guard Trump.
Credit: International New York Times Photo
The Secret Service has bolstered former President Donald Trump's security in a variety of ways since the assassination attempt on him last month, several people familiar with the matter said Thursday, including by temporarily shifting part of President Joe Biden's protective team to Trump.
The Secret Service has also secured ballistic glass, which is designed to repel bullets, to provide enhanced protection for Trump at future outdoor campaign rallies, those people added, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss confidential methods.
The reassignment of members of a president's team to a candidate is unusual, said a Secret Service official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss confidential policy matters. But the increased threat of violence against Trump, combined with Biden's recent reduced travel schedule, made the step both necessary and feasible, the official added.
A White House spokesperson had no immediate comment, and a Trump campaign spokesperson declined to comment.
The Secret Service has been under a cloud since July 13, when an assailant was able to fire, unimpeded, on Trump at an outdoor campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. The attack grazed Trump's ear, killed a spectator and seriously wounded two others. The FBI is investigating, and congressional leaders have also opened inquiries.
The Secret Service has taken responsibility for the security lapses that made the shooting possible. Kimberly A. Cheatle resigned as the agency's director and has been replaced. But even as it reels from its worst presidential security breach in more than four decades, the agency has had to continue its mission of protecting three dozen current and former officials, and their families, through what is proving to be a challenging and intense presidential campaign year.
Secret Service methodology "is made to be flexible," said Donald Mihalek, who worked for the agency for two decades before retiring in 2019, "and to address known, and unknown, threats. The steps the Secret Service is taking are a natural part of its asymmetrical approach to assure their no-fail mission is fulfilled."
Mihalek, who helped protect several presidents during his years in the service, said that he had occasionally seen members of a president's team reassigned to other jobs for periods of time, especially during United Nations events.
The agency's presidential protective division, as the group is known, is used for high-level protective details because of its experience and expertise, he said.
The division consists of hundreds of Secret Service employees who fan out across the White House compound to fulfill various security roles and also travel with the president, according to the current service official as well as former agents. Because Biden has traveled relatively little since dropping his reelection bid on July 21, division members who would typically travel and do advance work are now available to work with Trump's team, the official said.
It is rare -- though not unheard-of -- to use ballistic glass for those being protected other than the sitting president and vice president, partly because the material is heavy to move, current and former Secret Service officials said. The glass is usually transported by military planes, these people said, easing the logistical burden on the Secret Service.
In the case of Trump, whose potential use of ballistic glass for future campaign events was reported earlier by ABC News, the glass will be positioned at various points around the country for ease of use, a service official said.
Trump held an outdoor news conference Thursday at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, but he has not held an outdoor rally since the one in Butler.
He has said he would like to return to the Butler area for a future event.
"We're going to go back in October," he said in an interview with billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk this week.