Donald Trump revealed the weaknesses in his Secret Service security and indicated he will continue playing golf despite the security risks.
The former president told Fox News’ Sean Hannity on Tuesday night that he needs more agents for his security team.
“That’s the weakness,” he said. “I think that’s the weakest point where you still need people power.”
He also indicated that he will continue to play golf despite the agency’s warnings that it is difficult to protect him on his course.
“I just said, let’s go play a quick game, because it’s all business to me,” Trump said. “It’s my only form of exercise, so I like it, just something that’s good.”
Donald Trump surrounded by his Secret Service unit during an event in Michigan on Tuesday
Ronald Rowe Jr., acting director of the Secret Service, said Monday that agents rushed to set up a security perimeter when Trump decided to play golf at his Florida golf club on Sunday.
Trump, however, is a regular guest at his job when he is at his home in Mar-a-Lago, which is about a 20-minute drive away.
“It’s also really important that you know you can safely do whatever you want,” he told Hannity.
Agents have long been concerned about Trump’s golf game, even showing him photos taken by news crews of him playing golf, The Washington Post reported.
At Trump’s Virginia and West Palm Beach courses, there are public areas that overlook the golf course, allowing passersby to look into the area and watch the players.
Furthermore, Trump, like all past presidents, saw his security detail shrink after he left the White House. But he is still in the public eye and is now the Republican presidential nominee.
Trump and President Joe Biden spoke Monday, about 24 hours after a suspect was spotted on the other side of the fence at Trump’s West Palm Beach golf club with a gun barrel through the fencing.
Biden has said the Secret Service is understaffed and needs more resources.
Trump agreed.
“We need more people here,” he told Hannity. “We never seem to get it, and I think we are getting it now. Someone told me they’re going to bring in more people now.”
Trump, like Biden and Kamala Harris, praised his personal touches. Biden and Harris have both said they feel safe in the hands of their agents.
The former president did the same, calling his team “as good as you could find, and they’ve done a fantastic job.”
Still, he noted, “someone could have missed the barrel of that gun, or someone who was distracted could have missed or gotten shot. I mean, honestly, you know, I could have gotten shot, but in this case it was something that worked out very well.”
Donald Trump on his golf course in West Palm Beach
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But suspect Ryan Routh apparently waited in the area for about 12 hours on Sunday for an opportunity to take out Trump.
Cell phone location data obtained by the FBI indicates that Routh was “near tree line” at Trump International Golf Course in West Palm Beach from just before 2 a.m. Sunday until approximately 1:30 p.m.
That was about when a Secret Service agent checking the course for Trump spotted a gun barrel sticking out of a nearby fence and fired at Routh. Trump was quickly evacuated.
The details suggest a degree of forward planning by Routh. Moreover, the fact that he spent about 12 hours on the golf course without being discovered has raised questions about the Secret Service’s protective procedures.
Officials said Routh was on the public side of the Trump golf course fence when the officer saw the barrel of the gun.
Police are still investigating all details, including where the suspect got the AK-style rifle, what his movements were before the incident and whether anyone else was involved.
It is unclear where Routh would have parked and waited for the former president, who regularly plays golf at his West Palm Beach club when he is at his nearby Mar-a-Lago home.
Local police have tightened security around the golf club, including closing the road to all but local traffic.
Ryan Routh was arrested by Palm Beach police on Sunday
When the agent spotted the gun on Sunday, Trump was on the fifth hole of his Palm Beach golf club. The agent was on the sixth hole, doing a visual sweep for the former president, when he spotted the barrel of the gun.
Routh was less than 500 yards from Trump when he was captured.
Acting Secret Service Director Ron Rowe said Monday that Routh was unable to fire a single shot and that Trump was never in his “field of vision.”
“As former President Trump drove down the fifth fairway, across the course and out of sight of the sixth green, the officer, who was visually scanning the area of the sixth green, saw the suspect armed with what he believed to be a rifle and immediately discharged his firearm,” he noted.
The Secret Service was criticized for failing to maintain sufficient distance around Trump at his July 13 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, where Thomas Matthew Crooks attempted to assassinate the former president.
But, Rowe noted, the agency had a security plan in place for Trump’s golf game, which he said was not planned.
“We have a security plan in place and that plan has worked,” he said at a news conference on Monday.
Ryan was charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with a defaced serial number.
Researchers are trying to recover the serial number so they can trace its origin.