MILWAUKEE — Security at the Republican National Convention is on edge after the assassination attempt on Donald Trump Saturday night, with the on-the-ground convention floor sergeant-at-arms admitting that the “lack of trust in the Secret Service is palpable.”
“If I were a Secret Service member, I’d be ashamed. I’d be embarrassed,” Shawn Steel, an RNC delegate from California and the convention’s sergeant-at-arms, told The Post.
“And they are, and you can sense it, feel it. These are guys in the street wearing the big jacket that says ‘Secret Service.’ It’s not a badge of honor. It’s a badge of shame,” he added.
As the sergeant-at-arms, Steel is responsible for notifying on-site police of any rabble rousers or threats he sees on the RNC floor. He doesn’t have any law enforcement experience, but can alert others to the site.
The Secret Service has come under fire after they failed to stop Thomas Crooks, a 20-year-old gunman, from shooting at the former president at a Pennsylvania rally Saturday.
Crooks was positioned on a roof near the Butler, Pa., outdoor rally — and despite agents being on guard — he managed to shoot Trump in the ear and fatally kill rally-goer Corey Comperatore.
Agency director Kimberly Cheatle said the roof that Crooks was on was “sloped” so that could have been a reason to not put an agent on it because of that “safety factor.”
After the assassination attempt, Secret Service members fatally shot Crooks and tackled Trump to the floor. They then escorted the GOP nominee into his motorcade and whisked him away to a local hospital to get treated.
Trump praised their actions and expressed gratitude in several statements over the weekend.
Meanwhile, Steel insisted that the security around the RNC is good, as “there’s thousands of volunteers that are helping with security” and “we have a very sophisticated ID system and badges.”
The entirety of the RNC convention is also protected by chain-linked fences, which block out a perimeter that vehicles can’t access and pedestrians can only access with daily badges and security screenings.
After the shooting, Secret Service told reporters they would not be beefing up their security measures at the RNC.
“We are confident in the plans that we have and are moving forward with those plans,” Audrey Gibson-Cicchino, the Secret Service’s RNC convention coordinator, told reporters on Sunday.
Trump was flanked by an all-male Secret Service detail on Monday when he entered onto the convention floor — a difference from Saturday, when he was joined by a mixed gender crew.
President Biden directed Secret Service to increase their security resources for Trump after the assassination attempt.
The Secret Service did not immediately respond to an inquiry from The Post.
