Secret Service's elevated presence thwarted potential second Trump assassination attempt

WASHINGTON – The Secret Service had an elevated presence around former President Donald Trump when he was golfing on Sunday and thwarted an alleged assassination attempt after an agent in front of him spotted a rifle through the shrubbery.

Experts say agents in West Palm Beach appeared to have handled the situation properly two months after the Secret Service was heavily criticized about an earlier assassination attempt in which a gunman with an AR-style rifle shot at the GOP nominee from about 150 yards away.

But the recent incident at one of Trump's golf clubs in Florida underscores the challenges in protecting a presidential candidate who likes to keep a high public profile – including hitting the links and holding outdoor rallies, those experts told USA TODAY.

“Generally, even for a sitting president, they will operate in the way that they did here,” said A.T. Smith, the deputy director of the Secret Service from 2012 to 2015.

That means having agents do the best they can to accommodate other golfers, Smith said, while discreetly scouring the terrain for potential threats as Trump and his party continued playing.

“You wouldn't necessarily shut the whole course down. You would do basically what they did today, which is they probably go in and sweep the course to a certain degree ahead of time, and then you create this sort of moving bubble” around the protectee, in this case Trump, Smith told USA TODAY.

More: Trump assassination attempt in Florida: Who is suspect Ryan Routh?

According to Secret Service protocol, the bubble would then move along with Trump, covering a range of three to five holes ahead of and behind him, using high-tech tools for any sign of a potential assailant, Smith said. “They move obviously in advance of him, and then with him as he goes along.”

Doing 'the same thing we've been doing all along'

Like Smith, former Secret Service Director John Magaw cautioned that there’s much more to learn about the incident in the coming days, including whether agents used aerial surveillance drones to monitor the course. Both questioned how the suspect was able to get a rifle – reportedly with a telescopic sight – as close as 400 yards from Trump while he was golfing at his Trump International Golf Course.

But Magaw too said it looked like the Secret Service was following protocol, especially for someone like Trump who is a presidential candidate not entitled to the full complement of protection he was given when he was president.

“It looks like we did the same thing we've been doing all along,” Magaw said. “They’re one hole out ahead of him and looking in bushes and any wooded areas” for threats.

Questions since the July 13 attempted assassination of Trump

Questions about the Secret Service’s ability to safeguard Trump and other protectees have intensified since the GOP nominee was shot by a would-be assassin at a July 13 campaign rally in Butler, Pa.

Trump was wounded in the right ear and one rallygoer was killed and two others injured in that assassination attempt. Secret Service Director Kim Cheatle resigned, and the agency pledged to beef up security so that none of its several dozen protectees are that vulnerable again.

On Sunday, a source familiar with the unfolding investigation said it could not be determined immediately if the suspect was able to get a shot off before being fired at by Secret Service agents – and that that would be looked at as part of the ongoing investigation.

The source, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss operational Secret Service details, said the agency was indeed providing an elevated security presence on Sunday as part of its broader effort to bolster protection of Trump in the aftermath of the first assassination attempt.

In this case, a U.S. Secret Service agent who was in front of Trump as he golfed saw what appeared to be the barrel of a rifle, officials said at an afternoon news conference. Agents then fired on a suspect near the property line shortly before 2 pm.

More: What went wrong? How did Secret Service allow shooter to get so close to Trump?

Agents found an AK-47-style rifle, a scope, backpack and a GoPro camera on the scene, officials said. Trump was roughly 400 to 500 yards away from the would-be assailant, officials said.

‘Pretty much out of sight’ due to golf course shrubbery

The suspect, Ryan Routh, was taken into custody soon after, David Aronberg, state attorney for Palm Beach County, said. The FBI then said in a statement that it was investigating "what appears to be an attempted assassination” of Trump.

Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw praised the agency for its response Sunday, saying “the Secret Service did exactly what they should have done. They provided exactly what the protection should have been, and their agent did a fantastic job” in identifying the suspect.

But Bradshaw also said the agency had less protection at the golf course for Trump because he was a former president and not a current one, and that its agents were hampered by the fact that “the golf course is surrounded by shrubbery.”

“So when somebody gets into the shrubbery, they're pretty much out of sight, and at this level that he is at right now, he's not undefined Bradshaw said at the news conference. “If he was, we would have had this entire golf course surrounded.”

“But because he's not, the security is limited to the areas that the Secret Service deems possible,” Bradshaw said. “So I would imagine that the next time he comes to the golf course, there'll probably be a little bit more people around the perimeter.”

Rep. Ro Khanna, a California Democrat, said on X that the incident raised troubling questions about the Secret Service's ability to protect Trump.

"Two assassination attempts in 60 days on a former President & the Republican nominee is unacceptable," Khanna wrote. "The Secret Service must come to Congress tomorrow, tell us what resources are needed to expand the protective perimeter, & lets allocate it in a bipartisan vote the same day."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Elevated Secret Service presence foiled 2nd potential Trump attack