Donald Trump arrived at the Republican National Convention on Monday surrounded by an all-male security detail – a dramatic change from the Secret Service team he had Saturday when an assassin’s bullet nearly killed him.
Two days after surviving the assassination attempt, the former president Trump made a triumphant appearance at the RNC’s opening night in Milwaukee.
He sported a large white bandage over his right ear – a stark reminder of how close shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks came to a fatal headshot.
But many on social media honed in on another key image – noticing that Trump’s security detail did not include any female agents, even though his usual security team includes at least one woman.
It comes following discussions on social media that Trump’s women guardians were too short to protect the 6ft 3in candidate, and that a female agent could be seen struggling to holster her firearm.
The chaotic scenes at the rally cast doubt on Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle’s controversial bid to ‘diversify’ the agency and make the male-dominated force absorb 30 percent female recruits by 2030.
Many on social media noticed that former president Donald Trump was surrounded by an all-male security detail on Monday following an assassination attempt on Saturday
Donald Trump arrived at the Republican National Convention just two days after he survived an assassination attempt
On Monday, Trump, accompanied by a wall of Secret Service agents, did not address the hall — with his acceptance speech scheduled for Thursday — but smiled silently and occasionally waved at the crowd.
Hours after the assassination attempt, the Oversight Committee in the Republican-led US House of Representatives summoned Cheatle to testify at a hearing scheduled for July 22.
Cheatle, who was appointed by US President Joe Biden in 2022, on Monday said the agency will ‘participate fully’ in the independent review into the incident.
The Secret Service has not yet commented on the involvement of female agents.
White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre called it ‘ridiculous’ to question the viability of women Secret Service agents.
‘These men and women put their lives on the lives,’ she told reporters Monday.
‘We should not discount that, if it’s a man or if it’s a woman.’
Some on social media argued Trump’s women guardians were too short to protect the 6ft 3in candidate, and that a female agent could be seen struggling to holster her firearm
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump gestures as he is surrounded by U.S. Secret Service agents as he is taken from the stage
The agency denied accusations by some Trump supporters that it had rejected a campaign request for more security, saying that it recently ‘added protective resources and capabilities to the former President’s security detail.’
The rally attendee killed on Saturday was identified by authorities as Corey Comperatore, 50, of Sarver, Pennsylvania. He died trying to protect his family from the hail of bullets, said Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro.
Two people wounded in the shooting were in a stable condition on Sunday. Pennsylvania State identified them as David Dutch, 57, of New Kensington, Pennsylvania, and James Copenhaver, 74, of Moon Township, Pennsylvania.
The FBI identified Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, as the suspect and said the shooting was being investigated as an attempted assassination.
Trump’s supporters shared video online of a female Secret Service agent who appeared unable to holster her weapon
FBI officials said on Sunday that the shooter acted alone. The agency said it had yet to identify an ideology linked to the suspect or any indications of mental health issues or found any threatening language on the suspect’s social media accounts.
Crooks was a registered Republican, according to state voter records, and donated $15 to a Democratic political action committee when he was 17. At the time of the shooting he was employed as a dietary aide at a nursing home.