US Secret Service defends protective plan for Trump, calls it 'exemplary'

Florida [US], September 17 : After foiling a possible assassination attempt on former US President Donald Trump, the US Secret Service on Monday defended its protective plan for Trump, calling it "text book" and "exemplary," Politico reported.
While addressing a press conference at the county sheriff's office in West Palm Beach, Acting Director Ronald Rowe Jr said, "The Secret Service's protective methodologies work, and they are sound and we saw that yesterday."
He said the agent on the spot fired "immediately" towards the suspect as soon as he witnessed the barrel of the weapon -- a move he termed emblematic of the Secret Service's "hypervigilance."
Ronald Rowe Jr said that the suspect did not have line of sight of Trump and was not able to get any shots off at the agents who were sweeping the course, according to Politico report.
The press conference was held the same day that the suspect, Ryan Routh (58), was charged with having a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number. He appeared briefly in federal court in West Palm Beach on Monday. US Magistrate Judge Ryon McCabe ordered that Routh will be held without bond until a detention hearing scheduled for September 23.
According to authorities, Ryan Routh left a semi-automatic rifle at the spot, where a federal criminal complaint alleges that he may have been waiting for Trump outside his golf course near Mar-a-Lago for almost 12 hours.
Ronald Rowe Jr said that the area had not been scoped before time as Trump's visit to his golf course was not mentioned on his official schedule and was therefore considered to be "off the record movement," so the security team put together a plan that he called a "layered approach."
Rowe said, "There was no posting up of this because he wasn't supposed to be there," using a Secret Service phrase for positioning agents at the spot in advance. He, however, admitted that the agency needed to move from a "reactive model" to a "readiness model."
Ronald Rowe Jr said the agency was holding talks with members of US Congress about getting additional resources. He noted that many large events after the first assassination attempt against Trump in July happened without security threats, including the Republican National Convention, the Democratic National Convention, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netayahu's visit to Washington, DC, and the presidential debate in Philadelphia.
He stated that the speed of work and rise in demands following the assassination bid against Trump in Pennsylvania in July had pushed his agents to their limit, Politico reported.
He said, "The men and women of the Secret Service -- we are redlining them, and they are rising to this moment," adding that "The Secret Service operates under a paradox: zero-fail mission, but also that we have done more with less for decades. This goes back many, many decades."
According to officials, Routh did not have any direct vantage point on Trump. However, it was unclear how close Trump was to the suspect. He said former US President was "several hundred yards and several holes away."
During the same briefing, he said the former US President was on the fifth fairway while Routh was hiding out near the sixth green. Rowe said, "The subject, who did not have line of sight to the former president, fled the scene." He added, "He did not fire or get off any shots at our agents."
Ronald Rowe Jr said that the current level of Secret Service protection at Mar-a-Lago since the assassination attempt on Trump on Sunday was close to the same level that he had when he served as US President. Investigators were not aware whether the suspect was present on the spot before the early hours of Sunday morning.
Speaking at a press conference, Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said, "The security level at Mar-a-Lago is the highest it can possibly be. He further said that his office would provide the Secret Service with any additional resources it needed.
Bradshaw also talked about his conversation with Trump on Sunday night and the latter said that he "feels safe." He said, "That's important, because he is." He added, "And what we did yesterday proves the system can work because he didn't even get close to getting a round off," according to Politico report.
Investigators did not know when Routh reached Florida or whether he acted alone or with anyone at this point. Jeffrey Veltri, special agent in charge of the FBI Miami Field Office, said that Routh was the subject of a previously closed 2019 tip that he was a convicted felon who'd been in possession of a firearm.
The complainant was interviewed but did not verify that he had provided the information. Veltri said the information was shared with local law enforcement in Honolulu, Politico reported.
The suspect requested for an attorney when the FBI tried to question him, and they have filed warrants on his cell phone, car and other electronics, and are reviewing his social media posts and web activity, as well as interviews he did with media outlets about attempting to recruit Afghan soldiers and others to fight for Ukraine. The FBI also interviewed seven civilian witnesses at the spot and were engaged in the process to interview Routh's friends, family and former colleagues.
It was the second assassination bid against the former US President since July. The suspected gunman, Ryan Wesley Routh, possessed an AK-47-style rifle pointing through the chain-link fence out towards the green, a go-pro camera, and two backpacks. Routh escaped from the spot but was pulled over and arrested on I-95, according to Fox News report.
The second assassination attempt against Trump came after he was shot in the ear at a rally in Pennsylvania by a gunman who killed one person and injured others before being shot by police on July 13.