Trump is seen speaking behind bulletproof glass about national security during a campaign rally at the North Carolina Aviation Museum & Hall of Fame in Asheboro, North Carolina, in this picture taken on Wednesday. – AFP
Multiple US Secret Service agents have been placed on leave following the assassination attempt against Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, US media reported yesterday. The agents put on leave include members of the Pittsburgh field office, which co-ordinated security for Trump’s July 13 campaign event in Butler, Pennsylvania, RealClearPolitics and several US TV networks said. Fox and CBS reported that at least five Secret Service members involved in the incident, including the head of the Secret Service’s Pittsburgh office, had been put on leave. The Secret Service declined to comment on what it described as a “personnel matter” but said it is “committed to investigating the decisions and actions of personnel related to the event in Butler”. “The US Secret Service’s mission assurance review is progressing, and we are examining the processes, procedures and factors that led to this operational failure,” spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said in a statement. “The US Secret Service holds our personnel to the highest professional standards, and any identified and substantiated violations of policy will be investigated by the Office of Professional Responsibility for potential disciplinary action,” he said. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned last month after acknowledging that the agency had failed in its mission to prevent the assassination attempt by a 20-year-old gunman. Trump was wounded in the ear, two rally attendees were seriously injured and a 50-year-old Pennsylvania firefighter was killed before a Secret Service sniper shot the gunman dead. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) officials have yet to identify a motive for the suspected shooter, Thomas Crooks. Acting Secret Service chief Ronald Rowe pledged during an appearance before a joint Senate committee last month that the agency will discipline any agents found to have committed policy violations. Following the attack in Butler, the Secret Service recommended that Trump avoid large outdoor events. Trump subsequently said he would continue outdoor rallies and that the Secret Service had “agreed to substantially step up their operation” to protect him. Trump, 78, held his first outdoor rally since the shooting on Wednesday, addressing a campaign event in Asheboro, North Carolina, from behind a pane of bulletproof glass (pictured). – AFP/Reuters
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