Former U.S. President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has accused President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris of contributing to last month’s foiled assassination attempt against him. Trump claimed their actions made it challenging for the Secret Service to provide adequate protection.
Trump made these statements during an interview with Dr. Phil.
“When this happened, people would ask, whose fault is it?” Trump said. “I think to a certain extent it’s Biden’s fault and Harris’ fault. And I’m the opponent. They were weaponizing government against me, they brought in the whole DOJ to try and get me, they weren’t too interested in my health and safety.”
According to Trump, the Biden administration’s actions created obstacles for the Secret Service.
“They were making it very difficult to have proper staffing in terms of Secret Service,” added the former President.
Trump suggested that the heightened political tension and rhetoric, especially before the rally, may have played a role in inciting the assassination attempt.
“They’re saying I’m a threat to democracy,” he told Dr. Phil. “They would say that, that was standard line, just keep saying it, and you know that can get assassins or potential assassins going. That’s a terrible thing … Maybe that bullet is because of their rhetoric.”
Following the July 13 assassination attempt at Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, several Secret Service agents from the Pittsburgh Field Office, along with a member of Trump’s security team, were reassigned to administrative roles and instructed to work remotely.
In the days following the attempt, the Secret Service acknowledged that Trump’s security team had previously raised concerns about inadequate protection and staff shortages over the past two years. The agency admitted to denying certain requests.
Multiple investigations are currently underway, including an internal review, congressional probes, and an independent commission appointed by the Department of Homeland Security.
Just days after the incident, the Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general launched an investigation into how the Secret Service planned and executed security measures for the rally.
An eyewitness to the assassination attempt described to the BBC how he saw “a guy crawling, bear-crawling, up the roof of the building beside us, 50 feet away from us. So we’re standing there, we’re pointing at the guy crawling up the roof.”
The gunman’s rifle was clearly visible. “The police are down there, running around on the ground. We’re like, ‘Hey man, there’s a guy on the roof with a rifle.’ And the police are like, ‘huh, what?’ Like they didn’t know what was going on. We’re like, ‘Hey, right here on the roof, we can see him from right here! We see him! He’s crawling!'”
A video posted on X captured the moment when bystanders spotted the gunman and tried for a significant period of time to warn the police before shots were fired.
{Matzav.com}