WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Donald Trump said on Saturday nobody forewarned him of a problem in the lead-up to the former president’s rally in Pennsylvania last week, when a would-be assassin shot him in the ear.
“Nobody mentioned it, nobody said there was a problem. I would’ve waited for 15, they could’ve said let’s wait for 15 minutes, 20 minutes, 5 minutes, something. Nobody said,” Trump told Fox News in an interview.
“I think that was a mistake,” he added. “How did somebody get on that roof? And why wasn’t he reported?”
The Washington Post on Saturday reported that top officials at the U.S. Secret Service repeatedly rejected requests from Trump’s security detail for more manpower and gear at events before the attempted assassination.
The agency, which is responsible for Trump’s protection, denied these requests, saying at times that it lacked resources, the newspaper reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
The Secret Service did not immediately respond outside regular office hours to a Reuters request for comment.
Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle is set to testify before the U.S. House of Representatives Oversight Committee on July 22 for a hearing related to the shooting at Trump’s rally in Pennsylvania last week.
(Reporting by John Kruzel and Maria Ponnezhath; Editing by William Mallard and Tom Hogue)
