When Donald Trump arrived at the Republican National Convention on Monday, he was surrounded by an all-male security guard.
Two days after surviving an assassination attempt, former President Trump emerged triumphant at the opening night of the RNC in Milwaukee with a bandage over his right ear.
Many people on social media noted that Trump’s security detail did not include a single female agent, while his usual security detail includes at least one woman.
The statement follows discussions on social media that Trump’s female guardians were too small to protect the 6-foot-3 candidate, and that one female officer had difficulty putting away her firearm.
The chaotic scenes at the meeting cast doubt on Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle’s controversial plan to “diversify” the agency and make the male-dominated police force 30 percent female by 2030.
Many on social media noted that former President Donald Trump was surrounded by an all-male security detail on Monday following an assassination attempt on Saturday
Donald Trump arrived at the Republican National Convention just two days after surviving an assassination attempt
On Monday, Trump, accompanied by a wall of Secret Service agents, did not speak in the chamber — his acceptance speech was scheduled for Thursday — but he smiled silently and waved occasionally to the crowd.
Hours after the attempted assassination, Cheatle was called by the Republican-led House of Representatives Oversight Committee to testify at a hearing scheduled for July 22.
Cheatle, who was appointed by US President Joe Biden in 2022, said Monday the agency will “fully participate” in the independent investigation into the incident.
The Secret Service has not yet commented on the involvement of female agents.
White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre called it “ridiculous” to question the feasibility of having female Secret Service agents.
“These men and women are putting their lives on the line,” she told reporters on Monday.
“We cannot rule that out, whether it is a man or a woman.”
Some on social media claimed that Trump’s female security guards were too small to protect the 6-foot-3 candidate, and one female officer was seen struggling to put away her firearm.
Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump gestures as he is surrounded by U.S. Secret Service agents as he is escorted off the stage
The agency denied allegations from some Trump supporters that it had denied a campaign request for more security, saying it had recently “added protective resources and capabilities to the former president’s security detail.”
The rallygoer who died Saturday was identified by authorities as Corey Comperatore, 50, of Sarver, Pennsylvania. He died while trying to shield his family from the hail of bullets, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said.
Two people injured in the shooting were in stable condition Sunday. Pennsylvania State identified them as David Dutch, 57, of New Kensington, Pennsylvania, and James Copenhaver, 74, of Moon Township, Pennsylvania.
The FBI identified Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, as a suspect and said the shooting was being investigated as an attempted murder.
Trump supporters shared a video online of a female Secret Service agent unable to holster her weapon
FBI officials said Sunday that the shooter acted alone. The agency said it had not yet identified any ideology associated with the suspect or found any evidence of mental health issues or threatening language on the suspect’s social media accounts.
Crooks was a registered Republican, according to state voter records, and donated $15 to a Democratic political action committee when he was 17. At the time of the shooting, he was working as a nutritional aide at a nursing home.