The Secret Service pushed back on a MAGA assertion that President Biden denied a request for extra security to be provided to Trump.
The Secret Service posted a statement: “There’s an untrue assertion that a member of the former Presidentâs team requested additional security resources and that those were rebuffed. This is absolutely false. In fact, we added protective resources, technology, and capabilities as part of the increased campaign travel tempo.”
Biden didn’t deny Trump security. In fact there was a ton of security at the event. Events involving presidential nominees have top-tier security. Journalists at the Trump rally reported going through metal detectors and bag searches. There is always tight security at these types of campaign events, so what happened?
As is often the case with incidents of public violence, several factors had to align. The Trump campaign chose an outdoor venue surrounded by private property. Outdoor venues are notoriously more difficult to secure than indoor venues, where law enforcement can establish tighter perimeters. The Trump campaign also chose a wide open area that is accessible to the public.
Western Pennsylvania is a high school football-crazed region. Several high school football fields could have accommodated thousands of people in the region, which would have been an easier location to secure. Still, since Trump is running his campaign on the cheap, he has been running events in riskier spaces, and that was a factor in what happened in Butler.
Trump wasn’t denied anything. His campaign made a poor choice, and the candidate and his team chose not to prioritize security.
What happened in Butler has nothing to do with Joe Biden.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
