This time the officers saw the gun before it was fired.
A US Secret Service agent spotted the barrel of a rifle sticking out from between bushes on the Florida golf course where Donald Trump was playing and shot the man holding it.
What could have been an attack was averted – the FBI has described the incident as an apparent assassination attempt – the former president and now White House candidate was brought to safety and the suspect, who initially managed to flee, was later arrested by police.
The Secret Service’s performance can be considered a success and Trump himself has thanked the agents for their work.
However, the fact that a man armed with a semi-automatic rifle and with apparent intentions of attacking managed to get within shooting distance of Trump for the second time in two months, once again raises doubts about the capabilities of this agency, which faces new challenges in an increasingly violent and unpredictable political environment.
On July 13, the Secret Service failed to arrive in time. A 20-year-old shot Trump at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, wounding him in the right ear.
The attacker was shot dead by officers, but only after he managed to open fire, killing one person and seriously injuring two others.
The security lapses that led to the July attack sparked a serious crisis within the Secret Service. Its then director, Kimberley Cheatle, resigned from her post after a tense hearing in the House of Representatives, where she was criticized by both Republican and Democratic lawmakers.
But if in July the attack was blamed on a chain of errors in the security apparatus, the apparent new assassination attempt against Trump is perceived more as a fruit of the Secret Service’s own limitations.
More help
President Joe Biden himself acknowledged in his first public address since the incident that the Secret Service “needs more help,” responding to reporters’ questions about whether the agency needed more money or personnel.
According to the president, “Congress should respond to their needs if they do in fact need more service personnel,” he said, clarifying that it is lawmakers who decide whether the Secret Service needs more agents.
This body is responsible for the security of current and former presidents, their spouses and children under 16 years of age, vice presidents and foreign heads of state on official visits.
Also of the main presidential and vice presidential candidates in the 120 days prior to the election.
But not everyone receives the same protection.
As explained by the sheriff of Palm Beach County, where the golf course is located, Trump is not accompanied by the same number of officers as a sitting president, even though the security detail surrounding him was reinforced after the July attack.
“If it was, we would have had to surround the entire golf course,” Ric Bradshaw said at a press conference, where he gave details of what happened.
In fact, the former president’s love for this sport has been a headache for the Secret Service over the years, preferring closed spaces and armoured vehicles to open terrain, which is more difficult to control.
A friend of the former president, Chris Ruddy, CEO of the conservative media outlet Newsmax, told the BBC the camp was a “very large… sprawling area” that would require a “mini army” to secure.
Voices suggesting that Donald Trump, as a candidate for the White House again, needs greater protection than other former presidents have not been long in coming.
Former Secret Service agent Barry Donadio believes U.S. authorities should reevaluate the type of protection given to presidential candidates.
“Right now, there is a difference between a sitting president and a presidential candidate, or even a former president,” he told the BBC.
“Should all of these candidates receive the same presidential protection package? I think that probably has to be the answer.”he added.
Robert McDonald, a senior Secret Service member and former supervisor of President Biden’s security detail when he was vice president, shared the same view, praising the agents’ work.
“Compared to July 13, when the Secret Service had some epic failures in their policies and protocols, this has been a very positive reaction on their part,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
Agents were able to “diligently detect this individual and then ensure that protective measures directly around the former President were reinforced,” McDonald added.
“Overall, I think that It was a good day for the Secret Serviceeven though this individual came quite close,” the veteran agent said.
However, he warned of the possibility that copycats might try to emulate the attempted attack: “Luckily, so far the injuries have been minimal, but what worries us most now is whether someone will manage to get a little closer. Someone with another high-powered rifle? Someone who is capable of inflicting some serious damage?”
New challenge
This same argument has been heard in recent hours from legislators such as Democratic Congressman for New York Ritchie Torres, who said that Trump required “maximum protection.”
Both the FBI and the state of Florida, where Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence and Palm Beach golf course are located, have announced that will begin separate investigations into what happened.
“The people deserve the truth about the would-be assassin and how he was able to get within 500 meters of the former president and current Republican Party candidate,” Florida Governor Ron DeSantis wrote on social media.
The climate of political tension that is palpable in the countrywhere the national discourse has become more tense, partisan divisions have deepened and become entrenched, and standards of candidate behavior have eroded, poses a new challenge for the Secret Service.
“Given the national epidemic of gun violence, such attacks are perhaps another inevitable new normal. But for now, it remains shocking,” notes BBC correspondent Anthony Zurcher in the US.
The United States is experiencing a “tense moment” in its historysays former agent Barry Donadio.
“Democracy [está] “We are in danger because of conspiracy theories, or because one side believes one thing and the other believes the opposite. The government is going to have to put a stop to all this,” the former agent told the BBC.
Authorities should be “extremely transparent” in their investigation into the apparent assassination attempt on Donald Trump to prevent people from “generating conspiracy theories about this.”
The incident has been condemned not only by Trump’s allies but also by his rivals, including Vice President and Democratic candidate for the White House, Kamala Harris.
The Government “will ensure that the Secret Service has all the resourcescapabilities and protective measures necessary to carry out its critical mission,” Harris said.
Click here to read more stories from BBC News Mundo.
You can also follow us on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, X, Facebook and in our new WhatsApp channelwhere you’ll find breaking news and our best content.
And remember that you can receive notifications in our app. Download the latest version and activate them.
- What is known about the attempted assassination of Donald Trump at his Florida golf club?
- From fighting counterfeit dollars to protecting presidents and former presidents: the story of the U.S. Secret Service
- Who is Ryan Wesley Routh, the suspect in the attempted assassination of Donald Trump?