Secret Service Says RNC Security Plan Has Been ‘Strengthened’ and Changes Have Been Made to Trump’s Detail

The Secret Service updated its security plan for the Republican National Convention following the attempted assassination of Donald Trump during a campaign rally over the weekend.

“I am confident in the security plan our Secret Service RNC coordinator and our partners have put in place, which we have reviewed and strengthened in the wake of Saturday’s shooting,” U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle wrote in a statement released on Monday, July 15.

Cheatle's comments differed slightly from an earlier update provided by the Secret Service at a news briefing in Milwaukee, where Trump is scheduled to accept the GOP nomination this week. The Secret Service's RNC coordinator, Audrey Gibson-Cicchino, previously held that the agency was “not anticipating any changes to our operational security plans for this event.”

Cheatle's latest guidance clarified that security plans for events like national conventions and presidential inaugurations are "designed to be flexible."

As a result, she wrote, the Secret Service plans to "continuously adapt our operations as necessary in order to ensure the highest level of safety and security for convention attendees, volunteers and the City of Milwaukee."

Cheatle also noted that the update was made in coordination with Gibson-Cicchino and the agency’s other partners.

At events like the RNC, which have maximum-level security, Gibson-Cicchino said that the Secret Service works alongside law enforcement agencies at the federal, state and local level to keep people safe. Gibson-Cicchino said that the -

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agency has been developing plans to secure the RNC for 18 months.

In addition to changes to RNC security plans, Cheatle said that the Secret Service “implemented changes” to Trump’s security detail after Saturday’s shooting “to ensure his continued protection for the convention and the remainder of the campaign.”

This follows “enhancements” that the agency already provided to the former president’s security detail in June, Cheatle added.

In the aftermath of Saturday's shooting, the Secret Service has drawn scrutiny for allowing a shooter to get within firing range of Trump. On Sunday President Joe Biden called for an “independent review” of the measures put in place to protect the former president.

At the rally, local law enforcement officials determined that the gunman — 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks —was situated on a roof hundreds of feet from Trump’s stage, an area outside of the Secret Service’s designated security zone.

In a Monday interview with George Stephanopoulos on Good Morning America, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas said, “A direct line of sight like that to the former president should not occur."

Mayorkas continued: “We are going to really study the event independently and make recommendations to the Secret Service and to me so that we can assure the safety and security of our protectees, which is one of our most vital missions in the Secret Service, the Department of Homeland Security and across the government."

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