Sources close to former President Donald Trump told Public, Michael Shellenberger's publication, that the head of Trump's security detail had requested additional security resources but was denied by the director of the Secret Service, Kimberly Cheatle.
On Sunday, the Secret Service's chief of communications, Anthony Guglielmi, posted on X that it was "an untrue assertion that a member of the former President's team requested additional security resources & that those were rebuffed. This is absolutely false."
"In fact," he noted, "we added protective resources & technology & capabilities as part of the increased campaign travel tempo."
However, multiple sources close to Trump say Guglielmi's claim is a lie. The head of Trump's security detail and the Secret Service agents who have been protecting him claimed that for months, they all made "multiple" requests for additional help, but Cheatle, whose agency falls under the Department of Homeland Security, headed by Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, turned them down.
Notably, none of the sources who spoke with Shellenberger's publication claimed or suggested that the security failure was deliberate. Still, one security expert had warned Trump directly that his detail was inadequate.
On Saturday, the New York Post reported that Trump's security detail is far smaller than that of President Joe Biden's.
But "forget the titles," a source close to Trump told Public. "It's not how it's measured. It's measured by threat level. In 1999, the Pope did an event in St. Louis with bigger security than the president at the time had. That Trump doesn't have the same security protection as Biden ... you're asking for this guy to get killed."
Nick Koutsobinas ✉
Nick Koutsobinas, a Newsmax writer, has years of news reporting experience. A graduate from Missouri State University’s philosophy program, he focuses on exposing corruption and censorship.
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