The Secret Service has reportedly urged former President Donald Trump’s campaign to halt outdoor rallies and other events with large crowds after the attempt on his life.
After a gunman shot Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania, officials discussed concerns about another attempt on the former president’s life with his campaign, according to The Washington Post.
The people familiar with the matter spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private discussions.
For upcoming events, Trump’s team is scouting indoor venues, such as basketball arenas and other large spaces where thousands of people can fit, people familiar with the request said. The campaign is not currently planning any large outdoor events, a person close to Trump said.
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Trump has held hundreds of outdoor rallies since launching his first presidential bid, often bragging about — and sometimes falsely inflating — his large crowds. They have become something of a cult favorite among his most passionate fans, with tailgate parties in parking lots, vendors lining open areas near the rally and large parades of traffic, often with gargantuan pickup trucks.
They usually include large rosters of speakers before Trump takes the stage, with crowds sometimes enduring the heat or the cold for many hours. Interestingly, the crowd sometimes departs before Trump, who is regularly late, finishes speaking.
Sarah Matthews, a former Trump spokeswoman, told The Post:.
“We’ve seen from the early days of his presidency even, and before that during his first campaign in 2016, how important crowd size is to him. It gives him a lot of joy and energy being with large crowds. He feeds off their energy. It’s almost like a source of comfort for him,” said Matthews, who served as a deputy press secretary in the Trump White House.
Indoor rallies are more expensive, campaign advisers said. But one campaign official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private plans said the indoor events are inherently safer because it is easier to control who comes through a finite number of doors, and there are fewer line-of-sight issues.
“Obviously with an indoor venue, you have a capacity,” she said. “It doesn’t pack the same punch. There’s something about being at one of those outdoor rallies.”
The agency finds Trump’s rallies challenging because of their large, complex outdoor venues. The former president’s large events require extensive security planning, with agents arriving early to prepare.
The authorities have been investigating the shooting and the gunman, Thomas Matthew Crooks. While they have unearthed some details surrounding the assassination attempt, they have still not discovered what drove Crooks to shoot the former president.
The shooting has placed the Secret Service under scrutiny for its failure to prevent Crooks from taking a shot at the former president despite warnings from rallygoers. Former Secret Service director Kimberly Cheatle stepped down from her position after enduring a grilling from Republican and Democratic lawmakers during a recent hearing in which she failed to answer basic questions about the incident.
