The former CIA director Leon Panetta decried security failings around the attempted assassination of Donald Trump in Pennsylvania last Saturday, particularly given reports of Iranian threats to the former president.
Speaking on the One Decision podcast, which he co-hosts with Sir Richard Dearlove, a former head of the British intelligence service MI6, Panetta said: “It’s particularly disturbing because of what we found out: that the intelligence community provided information to the Secret Service that there’s … assassination threats from Iran, on former president Trump as well as others, but they as a result of that supposedly increased the deployment of Secret Service protection.”
News of the Iranian threat was widely reported on Tuesday.
“And if that’s true and they still failed to be able to establish a perimeter, I mean, the excuse that somehow this is outside the perimeter of the event is nuts.”
Facing calls to resign, the Secret Service director, Kimberly Cheatle, must also deal with questions about how the 20-year-old gunman, Thomas Matthew Crooks, was able to reach the roof from which he fired at the Butler county show grounds, despite being seen by multiple witnesses and security officers.
Cheatle has faced verbal attacks from Republican figures following the shooting. Senator Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, who has called for Cheatle to resign, posted footage on social media showing her chasing after Cheatle at the Republican national convention and shouting: “You owe the people answers. You owe President Trump answers.”
The American people deserve answers from the Secret Service. pic.twitter.com/PNFF11v00Q
— Marsha Blackburn (@VoteMarsha) July 18, 2024
Speaking to ABC on Monday, Cheatle said: “In this particular instance, we did share support for that particular site and the Secret Service was responsible for the inner perimeter. And then we sought assistance from our local counterparts for the outer perimeter. There was local police in that building – there was local police in the area that were responsible for the outer perimeter of the building.”
Local authorities questioned that account. On Wednesday, the Washington Post reported that the Secret Service was told local police did not have sufficient resources to watch the building concerned.
Panetta, 76, was a congressman from California from 1977 to 1993, White House chief of staff to Bill Clinton from 1994 to 1997, CIA director from 2009 to 2011, and secretary of defense until 2013, the last two positions both under Barack Obama.
His is therefore a weighty voice in a growing chorus of concern.
Trump was wounded in his right ear. One rallygoer was killed and two were critically injured. The gunman was shot dead by a sniper. An explosive device was found in his car, a detonator next to his body.
Panetta said: “Speaking from my own experience, our purpose in protecting the president was to make sure that there was a secure bubble around the president, and that it included every area from which a possible assassin could strike. And so what you do is you look at every possibility within that area, and try to make sure you secure it.
“And that’s why you put the snipers at a high position, to make sure that they’re constantly looking at where possible assassins could strike from. And what really puzzles me is whether their sight was somehow interfered with or what?
“Here is a guy with a gun climbing on the roof of a building within 150 yards of the former president … what it really raises is the failure of the Secret Service to do what they’re supposed to do.
“And we are now going into the heart of this campaign and there’s going to be … a number of rallies, a number of political events of one kind or another. And they had better quickly learn what went wrong, in order to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”
After the assassination attempt, Joe Biden has called for a cooling of campaign rhetoric. At the Republican national convention in Milwaukee, Trump has appeared with a bandaged ear while speakers celebrate his narrow escape.
Panetta said: “Beyond the investigation of what happened, I think it also raises questions about where we’re going as a country, and whether or not this will only increase greater political violence as we move towards the election, or whether both candidates, Donald Trump and Joe Biden, decide that it really is important to try to get this country to reject that kind of violence, and be more unified.
“In our approach to dealing with politics, I would like to believe that path is still possible in this country. But considering the history we’ve just been through, and what we’ve seen happen, I’m afraid we’re headed in the wrong direction.”
