Former US President Donald Trump, who in November hopes to win another term, was inches away from death during a rally in Pennsylvania. A young man fired at him, and one of the bullets hit Trump in the ear. This could have been another assassination of an American president. And logically, after the attack, people asked themselves – how could the best secret service in the world make such a blunder?
BBC television asks the Secret Service five questions.
1. Why wasn't the roof where the shooter was located secured in advance?
It remains unclear how the suspected shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks (who was killed at the scene), gained access to the roof of a building near the rally, which is less than 150 meters from Trump.
2. Sympathizers saw the shooter, but not the services. Why?
Sympathizers at the scene clearly saw the young man climbing onto a roof with a weapon in his hands. Videos of them shouting for a long time that there was a potential killer meters from Trump's stage were circulated on social networks. Why didn't the special forces see him and did these warnings even reach them before the shooting?
3. Did the Secret Service trust the local police too much?The shooter fired from what police described as a "secondary circle," which is patrolled not by the Secret Service, but by local and state officials. A former Secret Service agent said this kind of arrangement only works when there is a clear plan for what to do when danger is spotted.
4. Was the event adequately secured?There are serious doubts that Secret Service agents were not deployed properly and the local police were not sufficiently well trained. The Secret Service denied suggestions that the Trump team's request for increased staffing was rejected before the rally.
5. Was Trump taken off the stage fast enough?The agents who protected Trump were initially praised for doing a “pretty good job”, although there is no exact manual for what to do in such a situation. But it was also questioned whether they were fast enough to get the former president in a vehicle. Footage of the incident showed them quickly forming a shield around him immediately after the shots were fired, but then stopped, with the former president waving his fist at his supporters. A former agent told the NYT that at such a time he would not have stopped for a second, but would have taken Trump immediately to a secure vehicle.