Category Archives: Secret Service

Trump overcharged Secret Service by 300% for accommodations at his hotels

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House oversight committee’s report further called the ex-president’s term ‘world’s greatest get-rich-quick scheme’

Donald Trump billed the government for Secret Service accommodations at his hotels many times over what other guests were charged, particularly foreign dignitaries, according to a report released Friday from Democratic members of the House oversight committee.

Describing the former US president’s term in office as “the world’s greatest get-rich-quick scheme”, the report’s authors referred to documents obtained by subpoenas of the Mazars firm, Trump’s accountants, citing guest logs for Trump International hotel in Washington, DC, between September 2017 and August 2018.

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Secret Service ‘complacency’ led to security breach in Trump shooting – acting director

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Ronald Rowe says ‘lack of diligence’ contributed to shooting at ex-president’s rally and vows to not repeat mistakes

The US Secret Service had a “complacency” problem and was responsible for multiple security failures that preceded Donald Trump being shot by an attempted assassin during an election rally in Pennsylvania, the acting director of the agency said on Friday.

Communication breakdowns with local law enforcement and a “lack of diligence” hampered the Secret Service’s performance ahead of the July assassination attempt on the former US president, according to a new report that lays out a litany of missed opportunities to stop a gunman who opened fire from an unsecured roof.

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Biden tells Trump of his relief he is safe; Secret Service says golf club visit was unscheduled – live

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President and predecessor share ‘cordial conversation’, White House says; acting director Ronald Rowe defends Secret Service actions

A law enforcement source has told CNN that they “expect a federal court in South Florida will require ‘a mental health assessment’ of Ryan Wesley Routh before any possible criminal proceedings”.

Several prominent foreign leaders have commented on what appears to have been an assassination attempt on Donald Trump yesterday.

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White House blasts Elon Musk for X post about Biden and Harris assassination

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‘No one is even trying to assassinate Biden/Kamala,’ X owner tweeted after apparent Trump assassination attempt

The White House has condemned Elon Musk for tweeting “no one is even trying to assassinate Biden/Kamala” in response to an X user asking “Why they want to kill Donald Trump?”

The president’s office issued a statement Monday criticizing the “irresponsible” post, which was accompanied by an emoji face with a raised eyebrow. The White House said: “Violence should only be condemned, never encouraged or joked about. This rhetoric is irresponsible.” The statement added that there should be “no place for political violence or for any violence ever in our country”.

This article was amended on 16 September 2024. An earlier version stated that Elon Musk had tweeted “Why they want to kill Donald Trump?” It was later corrected to make clear he was replying to that tweet.

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Trump shooting attempt: Secret Service will have ‘every resource’ to protect Trump, Biden says, after apparent assassination bid – live

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A suspect is in custody after the incident, which occurred at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida

Palm Beach county sheriff’s office is hosting its press conference.

According to authorities, a witness said: “I saw the guy running out in the bushes.”

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Melania Trump boosts conspiracy theory online about rally shooting

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In a video promoting her memoir, she declares ‘we need to uncover the truth’ about assassination attempt on Trump

Former first lady Melania Trump has raised questions around the law enforcement response to the attempted assassination of her husband, in a video she published on Tuesday to promote her new book.

In the 34-second video posted to her X account, Melania begins by describing the attempted assassination on her husband as a “horrible, distressing experience”. And now, she says in the video, which is overlayed with dramatic instrumental music, “the silence around it feels heavy”.

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‘I told them’: police body-cam reveals warning days before Trump shooting

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Local police said they told Secret Service the building the 20-year-old opened fire from needed to be secured

In the chaotic aftermath of the attempted assassination of Donald Trump at a Pennsylvania rally last month, a local police officer told a fellow officer he had warned the Secret Service days earlier that the building where the 20-year-old gunman opened fire needed to be secured.

“I [bleep] told them they needed to post guys [bleep] over here,” the officer said in police body-camera footage released by the Butler township police department, with expletives bleeped out. “I told them that [bleeped expletive] Tuesday.”

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Secret Service accepts ‘full responsibility’ for Trump shooting security failures

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Acting director Ronald Rowe says ‘this was a failure’ and admits errors in communications and surveillance

The US Secret Service takes “full responsibility” for the events that led up to the attempted assassination of Donald Trump last month, the acting director of the agency said on Friday.

In a press conference in Washington, Ronald Rowe, who replaced Kimberly Cheatle after she stood down from her position as director of the service after Trump was shot, said: “This was a failure.”

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Swat team says it had no contact with Secret Service before Trump rally shooting

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‘We were supposed to get a face-to-face briefing … and that never happened,’ says lead sharpshooter on local Swat team

Local police officers on a special tactical team who were assigned to help protect Donald Trump on the day the former president was wounded during a 13 July assassination attempt in Butler county, Pennsylvania, have said they had no contact with Secret Service agents before the gunman opened fire.

“We were supposed to get a face-to-face briefing with the Secret Service members whenever they arrived, and that never happened,” Jason Woods, lead sharpshooter on the Swat team in nearby Beaver county, Pennsylvania, told ABC News.

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Secret Service urging Trump to stop outdoor rallies after shooting – report

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Move comes as director Kimberly Cheatle resigns after congressional grilling over assassination attempt

Secret Service officials are reported to be encouraging Donald Trump’s campaign to stop holding outdoor rallies in the wake of the 13 July assassination attempt on the former president at a fairground in Butler, Pennsylvania.

The move, reported by the Washington Post, comes as Secret Service director Kimberly Cheatle resigned on Tuesday following a combative grilling before a congressional committee by both Democrats and Republicans over apparent security failures before an attempt on Trump’s life by a 20-year-old gunman.

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Man who crashed truck into White House barriers in 2023 pleads guilty

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Sai Varshith Kandula from Missouri, who was carrying a Nazi flag at time of arrest, said he hoped to overthrow the US government

A Missouri man pleaded guilty on Monday to crashing a rented truck into metal barriers surrounding the White House in May 2023, admitting that he had been “fueled by the ideology of Nazi Germany” and hoped to overthrow the US government.

Sai Varshith Kandula, 20, from Chesterfield, Missouri, and also a citizen of India, pleaded guilty to a single count of damaging federal property. He faces up to 10 years in prison when he is sentenced in August.

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Intruder at home of Biden adviser Jake Sullivan bypassed Secret Service agents

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National security adviser confronted apparently intoxicated man at 3am then told his protectors what happened, report says

The US Secret Service was investigating after an apparently intoxicated and confused man walked past agents and into the Washington home of Joe Biden’s national security adviser.

Jake Sullivan confronted the man and told him to leave, the Washington Post first reported, of an incident that happened at about 3am one night in late April. There were no signs of forced entry.

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Zandra Flemister, first Black woman in Secret Service, dies aged 71

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Hailed as ‘a trailblazer’, Flemister experienced widespread racism and discrimination during her tenure at the federal agency

The first Black woman to have been hired by the US Secret Service, Zandra Flemister, has died at the age of 71, leaving behind as her legacy a rich political career, her fight with Alzheimer’s, and a lawsuit that details the widespread racism and discrimination she suffered during her tenure at the federal agency known for protecting presidents.

Flemister, who died Tuesday, was “a trailblazer” and “inspired a future generation of agents,” the Secret Service’s director, Kimberly Cheatle, said in a statement about her death.

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Top Secret Service official at heart of January 6 Trump row steps down

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Tony Ornato, who reportedly told aide Trump lunged for steering wheel as Capitol attack was starting, was key figure to committee

Top US Secret Service official Tony Ornato, who has become a figure of intense interest to the congressional committee investigating the January 6 Capitol attack, has retired from the agency.

Ornato was thrust into the center of the January 6 furor as an eyewitness to some of the most critical incidents involving Donald Trump in the hours leading up to the deadly assault on the US Capitol.

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Secret Service turned over just one text message to January 6 panel, sources say

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House committee wants all communications from day before and day of Capitol attack but agency indicates such messages are lost

The Secret Service turned over just one text message to the House January 6 committee on Tuesday, in response to a subpoena compelling the production of all communications from the day before and the day of the US Capitol attack, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

The Secret Service told the panel the single text was the only message responsive to the subpoena, the sources said, and while the agency vowed to conduct a forensic search for any other text or phone records, it indicated such messages were likely to prove irrecoverable.

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Secret Service’s January 6 text messages story has shifted several times, panel is told

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Explanation for how the messages from 5 and 6 January 2021 were deleted has gone from software upgrades to device replacements

The Secret Service’s account about how text messages from the day before and the day of the Capitol attack were erased has shifted several times, the inspector general for the Department of Homeland Security told the House January 6 select committee at a briefing on Friday.

At one point, the explanation from the Secret Service for the lost texts was because of software upgrades, the inspector general told the panel, while at another point, the explanation was because of device replacements.

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Secret Service agents’ January 6 texts were erased after oversight request

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Office of Inspector General revealed that messages from 5 and 6 January were destroyed only after the request was made

Texts sent between US Secret Service agents on 5 and 6 January 2021 were erased after the agency’s oversight body sought the communications in a review into the Capitol attack, according to a letter from the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General (OIG).

The disclosure in the letter, sent on Thursday to the House homeland security and Senate homeland security and government affairs committees, marked the latest failure for the Secret Service amid increasing scrutiny for their actions over the attack.

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‘Incels’ are a rising threat in the US, Secret Service report finds

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Some behavioral themes identified include concerning online content, a history of being bullied and financial instability

A new US Secret Service report details a rising threat from men who identify as “involuntary celibates” or “incels”, due to their inability to form intimate relationships with women.

The report released on Tuesday and prepared by the National Threat Assessment Center (NTAC) highlights behavioral threat assessment themes identified in years of research examining targeted violence.

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Online extremist content surged before 6 January, says US agency

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FBI and DHS flagged content that could ‘inspire violence by lone offenders against government officials’

The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has warned of an increase in extremist content and threats against US lawmakers in the days leading up to the anniversary of the 6 January insurrection, according to a memo obtained by the Guardian.

The memo, sent on Thursday to state and local law enforcement, said that DHS had no indication of a specific and credible plot, but that the agency and the FBI had “identified new content online that could inspire violence, particularly by lone offenders, and could be directed against political and other government officials, including members of Congress, state and local officials, and high-profile members of political parties, including in locations outside of [Washington DC]”.

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Trump golf club charged Secret Service $10,000 for rooms in May, records show

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  • Bedminster club charged agency for 18-day stay in May
  • Completely legal for Secret Service to be billed for rooms

Donald Trump charged the Secret Service nearly $10,200 for its use of guest rooms at his New Jersey golf club in May, newly released records indicate.

The May charges at the Trump National golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey totaled $10,199.52 for an 18-day stay – about $566 per night at the resort.

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