The Secret Service lied to the public: It has denied increasing Trump's security for years

Over the past two years, the Secret Service has refused to beef up Donald Trump's security, citing budget problems and lack of personnel. This contradicts recent claims by its spokesmen who tried to fend off questioning after the attack against the former president at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

According to The Washington Post, four anonymous Secret Service officials spoke on anonymity and cited security concerns. They revealed that agency leaders repeatedly denied requests for additional resources and personnel requested by Trump's security.

"Agents charged with protecting the former president requested magnetometers and more agents to screen attendees at sporting events and other large public gatherings Trump attended, as well as additional snipers and specialty teams at other outdoor events," the newspaper reviewed, citing the anonymous sources.

Senior agency officials have denied these requests several times in recent years due to "a lack of resources at an agency that has long struggled with staffing shortages," the sources told the WaPo.

Secret Service misled the public

A Secret Service spokesperson, Anthony Guglielmi, also admitted to WaPo that in the days before, the agency incorrectly reported that no additional support for Trump's security had been denied before the attack.

According to The Washington Post, Guglielmi, after receiving detailed questions, admitted that the Secret Service had obtained new information that indeed indicated that the agency's headquarters may have denied some requests for additional security from Trump's detail. The spokesman also said the agency was reviewing documentation to understand specific interactions with Trump's entourage better and defended the agency's work in a statement sent to the outlet.

"The Secret Service has a vast, challenging, and intricate mission (...) Every day we work in a dynamic threat environment to ensure our protectees are safe and secure across multiple events, travel, and other difficult environments. We execute a comprehensive and layered strategy to balance personnel, technology, and specialized operational needs."

The tone adopted by the agency today is completely different from previous days. In fact, the day after the shooting, the same spokesman had said:

"The assertion that a member of the former president’s security team requested additional security resources that the U.S. Secret Service or the Department of Homeland Security rebuffed is absolutely false."

Likewise, sources told the WaPo that the criticized Secret Service director, Kimberly Cheatle, repeated this denial during a meeting with Trump campaign leaders in Wisconsin last Monday.

More security device flaws revealed

The WaPo report highlights the flimsiness of security for a highly exposed former president who recurrently holds events in front of large crowds. This is an atypical situation that poses a major challenge for an agency that is coming under fire for allowing a 20-year-old man with no military experience to fire about six times with an AR15 rifle at the stage where Trump was standing last week.

The former president, in an act of survival that experts are calling miraculous, came within an inch of the bullet from the shooter, Matthew Thomas Crooks, entering his head, the most recent medical report shared by Trump revealed.

Crooks, who his companions described as a smart but lonely guy, was hiding on a rooftop just 130 yards from Trump when he fired several shots. One of his bullets grazed Trump's ear, and another killed an audience member who was seated behind the stage. Two other people were seriously wounded as a result of an attack that could have been even worse if not for a Secret Service sniper taking a "nearly impossible" shot to take the shooter down, security experts said.

In addition to the WaPo report, The New York Times also revealed Saturday another security problem during the Pennsylvania rally operation.

In recent days, it was revealed that shooter Crooks was seen hours earlier prowling the area. Some verified reports indicated that some agents saw a suspicious man half an hour before the attack; however, at the time it could not be determined if he was armed or had clear intentions to shoot.

According to the NYT, one of the problems with security was that dozens of local police officers were present at the Trump rally, but very few observed the critical area of the event because they were not tasked with securing the area around the warehouse used by Crooks to attempt to assassinate the Republican Party candidate for president.