Donald Trump's Security Breached Again as Secret Service Makes Another Concerning Mishap

Former president Donald Trump narrowly escaped an assassination attempt last month while speaking at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. On Wednesday, August 14, in Asheville, North Carolina, the Republican leader was left exposed yet again after another security lapse by the Secret Service. The incident was brought to attention online by journalist Susan Crabtree of RealClearPolitics, who revealed that a female agent had left her post at the campaign rally "to breastfeed with no permission/warning to the event site agent (the person in charge of the entire event's security)." 

"Shortly before Trump's motorcade arrival -- I'm told five minutes beforehand -- the site agent was getting ready for the arrival. The site agent went to do one final sweep of the walking route and found the agent breast-feeding her child in a room that is supposed to be set aside for important Secret Service official work, i.e. a potential emergency related to the president," Crabtree shared in a lengthy post on X (formerly Twitter). She explained that three separate sources in the Secret Service community had informed her of the breach.

The journalist noted that family members of the Secret Service agents are not allowed during duty hours. "A working agent on duty cannot bring a child to a protective assignment. The woman was out of the Atlanta Field Office. The woman agent was in the room with two other family members. The agent and her family members bypassed the Uniformed Division checkpoint and were escorted by an unpinned event staff into the room to breastfeed, the sources said. Unpinned means they have not been cleared by the Secret Service to be there." 

In an exclusive statement to Newsweek, Secret Service's chief of communications, Anthony Guglielmi, assured, "All employees of the U.S. Secret Service are held to the highest standards. While there was no impact to the North Carolina event, the specifics of this incident are being examined. Given this is a personnel matter, we are not in a position to comment further." After security lapses allowed the Butler sniper to come close enough to fire at Trump, the agency is already under intense scrutiny. Kimberly Cheatle, the agency's director, resigned from her role after several investigations into the incident were opened. Director Ronald Rowe took her place after the Congress hearing. 

According to Fox News, employees of the Secret Service, both past and present, have expressed displeasure over the agency's chronic understaffing despite a $3 billion budget increase. USSS leaders are being questioned on their management of team morale, their ability to attract and retain talent, and their shortcomings on July 13 in Butler, Pennsylvania. Before the July rally, reports claimed that the GOP nominee had been turned down several times for additional security manpower from the agency.