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The Secret Service is responsible for protecting Donald Trump. However, since an assassination attempt in Pennsylvania, the agency has come under enormous criticism.
Washington, DC – According to media reports, several Secret Service agents have been placed on leave in connection with the assassination attempt on US presidential candidate Donald Trump. Among them are employees from the Pittsburgh Secret Service branch, which was responsible for protecting Trump during his campaign appearance in mid-July, several US television stations reported on Friday (August 23).
The Secret Service, which is responsible for protecting current and former presidents, declined to comment, calling it a “personnel matter.”
A bullet hit Trump in the ear during an assassination attempt in July. The Secret Service has been under criticism ever since. © Gene J. Puskar/AP/dpa
The sequence of events on July 13 in the city of Butler, Pennsylvania, remains under investigation, said Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi. “We are investigating the processes, procedures and factors that led to this operational failure.”
Secret Service under fire after Trump assassination attempt
Trump barely survived the attack during the campaign rally on July 13th; he was hit by a bullet in the right ear. A man in the audience was killed, and two other participants in the rally were seriously injured. The suspected perpetrator, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, was shot dead by a Secret Service sniper.
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Because of the assassination attempt on Trump and the obvious failure of the Secret Service, its head Kimberly Cheatle had already resigned.