The United States Secret Service (USS) has advised Donald Trump’s campaign to refrain from organising outdoor rallies in light of the recent assassination attempt on the former president.
Following the shooting during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13, Secret Service officials have raised concerns over large outdoor events organised by the 78-year-old Republican presidential nominee’s campaign.
The Secret Service has recommended that Trump’s rallies be moved indoors instead and the Trump campaign seems to have taken these concerns seriously.
They are now exploring indoor venues for their upcoming gatherings.
According to the New York Post, Trump’s next two events are scheduled to take place in a multipurpose arena in Charlotte, North Carolina, and a hockey arena in St Cloud, Minnesota.
The former president’s first rally since the assassination attempt, which left him with a bloody ear, one rally-goer dead, and two others critically wounded, was held indoors as well, in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Trump has held dozens of large outdoor rallies since launching his 2024 White House bid, and hundreds since his first presidential campaign in 2016, with airports, fairgrounds, and parks frequently being utilised by the campaign to stage the events.
Although indoor rallies are costlier but they are safer because of the limited number of entrances and reduced line-of-sight issues, a Trump campaign official told the Washington Post.
Trump’s would-be assassin, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, was lying on a rooftop just 130 yards away from the presidential candidate when he opened fire.
former Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned Tuesday after facing criticism that her agency did not adequately protect Trump at the Butler rally.
Secret Service officials had also repeatedly rejected Trump’s request for additional security in the two years before the assassination attempt, citing a lack of resources.
