The Secret Service will need to beef up its protection of President-Elect Donald Trump because of his tough-talking demeanor, veteran journalist and White House expert Ronald Kessler tells Newsmax TV.
"Typically presidents who really stir up emotions — such as JFK, for example, or Ronald Reagan, who've become targets of assassination attempts or actual assassinations — [need] special consideration," Kessler said Wednesday to Steve Malzberg on "America Talks Live."
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And he said Trump certainly fits that category.
"I hope he wears his bulletproof vest," said Kessler, author "The First Family Detail: Secret Service Agents Reveal the Hidden Lives of the Presidents,'' published by Crown Forum.
In addition, Trump should appoint a new Secret Service director who will "shake things up in the Secret Service so that there isn't this cover-up mentality that we've seen [involving Secret Service security breaches]," Kessler told Malzberg.
"I know my book … is on the top of his desk and I think he will appoint a good person to head the Secret Service … You never know, tomorrow there could be a serious assassination attempt and you have to have someone, for example, a former FBI official [in charge] … to change the culture.
"Which is a culture within the management, not among the agents — who are brave and dedicated — but the management has this lax attitude and cover-up culture that has got to stop."