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    Secret Service Pulls From Biden’s Protective Team to Guard Trump

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    In the aftermath of an assassination attempt last month, the agency has shifted members of President Biden’s protective team to the Trump campaign.The Secret Service has bolstered former President Donald J. Trump’s security in a variety of ways since the assassination attempt on him last month, several people familiar with the matter said on Thursday, including by temporarily shifting part of President Biden’s protective team to Mr. Trump.The Secret Service has also secured ballistic glass, which is designed to repel bullets, to provide enhanced protection for Mr. Trump at future outdoor campaign rallies, those people added, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss confidential methods.The reassignment of members of a president’s team to a candidate is unusual, said a Secret Service official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss confidential policy matters. But the increased threat of violence against Mr. Trump, combined with Mr. Biden’s recent reduced travel schedule, made the step both necessary and feasible, the official added.A White House spokesman had no immediate comment, and a Trump campaign spokeswoman declined to comment.The Secret Service has been under a cloud since July 13, when a gunman was able to fire, unimpeded, on Mr. Trump at an outdoor campaign rally in Butler, Pa. The attack grazed Mr. Trump’s ear, killed a spectator and seriously wounded two others. The F.B.I. is investigating, and congressional leaders have also opened inquiries.The Secret Service has taken responsibility for the security lapses that made the shooting possible. Kimberly A. Cheatle resigned as the agency’s director and has been replaced. But even as it reels from its worst presidential security breach in more than four decades, the agency has had to continue its mission of protecting three dozen current and former officials, and their families, through what is proving to be a challenging and intense presidential campaign year.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Assessing Cause of Trump Wound, F.B.I. Examines Bullet Fragments From Rally

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      The bureau is assessing what caused the former president’s wound during an assassination attempt. The question has turned political.The F.B.I. is examining numerous metal fragments found near the stage at a campaign rally in Butler, Pa., to determine whether an assassin’s bullet — or potential debris — grazed former President Donald J. Trump’s head, bloodying his ear, according to the F.B.I. and a federal law enforcement official.The bureau has asked to interview Mr. Trump as part of its broader investigation, hoping to provide insights into the shooting and possibly a more complete record of his injury, the official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the continuing inquiry.Unanswered questions about the object that struck the Republican nominee for president have lingered since the shooting on July 13, with Mr. Trump claiming that he was struck by a bullet — and casting his survival as an act of divine intervention.F.B.I. officials have been more circumspect, citing the need to analyze the evidence before determining what struck Mr. Trump — a bullet, metal shard or something else.The bureau’s shooting reconstruction team “continues to examine evidence from the scene, including bullet fragments, and the investigation remains ongoing,” the F.B.I. said in a statement on Thursday. In addition to injuring Mr. Trump, the gunman, Thomas Crooks, 20, of Bethel Park, Pa., shot three rally attendees, one fatally.Steven Cheung, a Trump campaign spokesman, did not answer whether the bureau had asked to review the former president’s medical records after the incident, but Mr. Trump has not released them publicly.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Homeland Security Announces Panel on Trump Assassination Attempt

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      Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas said the bipartisan group of experts would get to the bottom of decisions that allowed a gunman to wound the former president at a rally in Pennsylvania.The homeland security secretary, Alejandro N. Mayorkas, on Sunday announced the members of a panel to conduct an independent review into security failures after a gunman was able to wound former President Donald J. Trump last weekend at a campaign rally in Butler, Pa.The Secret Service, which answers to Mr. Mayorkas, is facing criticism for its decisions in planning security for the event, and Republican leaders have called for the agency’s director, Kimberly A. Cheatle, to resign. Mr. Mayorkas’s announcement on Sunday promised that the panel would get to the bottom of what went wrong and what changes the Secret Service should make to protect the country’s leaders.“This independent review will examine what happened and provide actionable recommendations to ensure they carry out their no-fail mission most effectively and to prevent something like this from ever happening again,” Mr. Mayorkas said in a statement.The panel — described by Mr. Mayorkas as bipartisan — that will be conducting the 45-day review will be made up of Janet Napolitano, a former homeland security secretary; Frances Townsend, a former homeland security adviser to President George W. Bush; Mark Filip, a former federal judge and a deputy attorney general under Mr. Bush; and David Mitchell, a former secretary of the Delaware Department of Public Safety and Homeland Security. Mr. Mayorkas said he could invite additional experts to join the panel in the coming days.Ms. Cheatle said in a statement on Sunday that she was eager to cooperate with the review.The announcement comes as Mr. Mayorkas is under scrutiny for his handling of the events surrounding the assassination attempt, especially whether he has been able to get adequate answers from Ms. Cheatle. Her tenure grew more tenuous over the weekend after the Secret Service revised public comments that it had not denied requests for additional security for Mr. Trump the past two years.Ms. Cheatle is expected to testify on Monday before the House Oversight Committee and will face a barrage of questions about the Secret Service’s decisions before, during and immediately after the failed assassination on July 13. It is likely to be a pivotal moment in the search for what happened at the campaign rally and how federal law enforcement was unable to protect the former president.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      At Trump Rally, Few Local Police Officers in Critical Area Before Shooting

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      Local law enforcement officials, present in abundance, said they were not assigned security duties around a warehouse used by a man who tried to kill former President Donald Trump.A key question after an assassination attempt on former President Donald J. Trump a week ago is why the Secret Service excluded from its secured zone a nearby warehouse the gunman used for his assault.But another possible flaw in the Secret Service’s plans for the campaign rally at the farm show grounds in Butler, Pa., is emerging. The protection agency expected the sizable contingent of officers from local law enforcement agencies to contain any threats outside of the secured zone but assigned almost all those officers to work inside it, according to numerous interviews with local law enforcement and municipal officials.None of the law enforcement agencies that assisted the Secret Service that day — the Pennsylvania State Police, the Butler Township Police Department, the Butler County Sheriff, Pittsburgh Bureau of Police or the multicounty tactical teams — say they were given responsibility for watching the zone outside the Secret Service’s security perimeter.More specifically, the local law enforcement officials say that none of them were assigned to safeguard the complex of warehouses just north of the farm show grounds. The gunman was able to use the roof of the warehouse closest to the stage — about 450 feet from the podium — from which to shoot.“I am going to defend those guys, because it wasn’t their job to secure the building,” said Richard Goldinger, the district attorney in Butler County, who oversees the multicounty tactical teams that were used at the rally, on July 13.Rather, an overwhelming majority of the dozens of local and state officers called upon to aid the Secret Service were given other duties at or inside the secured perimeter — an area that was protected by a fence, metal detectors and the Secret Service itself.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      A Blind Spot and a Lost Trail: How the Gunman Got So Close to Trump

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      About an hour before a gunman let loose a volley of bullets that nearly assassinated a former president, the law enforcement contingent in Butler, Pa., was on the verge of a great policing success.Among the thousands of people streaming in to cheer former President Donald J. Trump at a campaign rally on Saturday, local officers spotted one skinny young man acting oddly and notified other law enforcement. The Secret Service, too, was informed, through radio communication. The suspicious man did not appear to have a weapon.Remarkably, law enforcement had found the right man — Thomas Matthew Crooks, a would-be assassin, though officers did not know that at the time. Then they lost track of him.Twenty minutes before violence erupted, a sniper, from a distance, spotted Mr. Crooks again and took his picture.As time slipped away, at least two local officers were pulled from traffic detail to help search for the man. But the Secret Service, the agency charged with protecting Mr. Trump, did not stop him from taking the stage. Eight minutes after Mr. Trump started to speak, Mr. Crooks fired off bullets that left the Republican presidential nominee bloodied and a rally visitor dead.Secret Service snipers surveilling the surrounding area before Mr. Trump began to speak.Eric Lee/The New York TimesWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Un tiroteo conmociona una campaña en EE. UU., ya de por sí accidentada

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      El atentado contra Donald J. Trump fue la última escalada de violencia política y un recordatorio de la creciente fragilidad de la democracia pacífica en Estados Unidos.[Estamos en WhatsApp. Empieza a seguirnos ahora]El intento de asesinato contra Donald Trump del sábado en su mitin en Pensilvania sumió la contienda presidencial de 2024 en un estado de conmoción e incertidumbre.La campaña del presidente Joe Biden se apresuró a retirar sus anuncios de televisión de los medios de todo el país e interrumpió todas las comunicaciones oficiales externas. No habría ningún llamado a recaudar fondos ni comunicados de prensa. Una orden interna de la campaña de Biden pedía a todos los miembros de su personal que “se abstuvieran de hacer comentarios en las redes sociales o en público”, lo mismo dictó un lineamiento interno de la campaña de Trump.Biden, quien estaba la iglesia en el momento del atentado, condenó la violencia como “enfermiza” en un breve discurso a la nación desde un departamento de policía local en Delaware, luego cambió de planes y regresó a la Casa Blanca después de la medianoche. Él y Trump hablaron el sábado a última hora, una llamada que un funcionario de la Casa Blanca describió como “buena, respetuosa y breve”.Trump emitió su propio relato gráfico del momento difícil en una publicación en sus cuentas de redes sociales mientras regresaba a Nueva Jersey antes de la Convención Nacional Republicana que, según las autoridades, continuará como estaba previsto el lunes en Milwaukee: “Oí un zumbido, disparos e inmediatamente sentí la bala desgarrándome la piel”.“¡Nunca me Rendiré!”, escribió Trump en un mensaje de texto a sus seguidores.Sus dos principales asesores, Susie Wiles y Chris LaCivita, escribieron en un mensaje público la noche del sábado que Trump no dejaría de asistir a la convención para reunirse con sus partidarios. Y en un mensaje interno al personal de la campaña de Trump, escribieron que estaban “reforzando la presencia de seguridad armada con oficiales en todo momento en el lugar” tanto en Washington como en West Palm Beach, Florida, en las oficinas de campaña.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Biden Had a Clear Message: Trump Was a Threat. Then the Shooting Happened.

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      Former President Donald J. Trump has gone from being an instigator of political violence to a victim of it. The assassination attempt raised questions about how far language should go in a heated campaign.For months, the message from the White House and Wilmington was as stark as it was simple: This year’s election amounts to an existential choice between a defender of democracy and a destroyer of democracy. Nothing less than the future of America is at stake.And then the bullets started flying.The assassination attempt over the weekend has complicated President Biden’s argument now that former President Donald J. Trump has gone from being a longtime instigator of political violence to a victim of it. Republicans, including Mr. Trump’s newly anointed running mate, Senator J.D. Vance of Ohio, instantly blamed Mr. Biden, citing his sharp rhetoric.No one in Mr. Biden’s camp thinks that is a good-faith argument, especially from allies of a former president who sent the mob that marauded the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and did nothing to stop its assault, and has now vowed to pardon rioters convicted of violent crimes. But the images of Mr. Trump with blood streaked across his face after being grazed by a would-be assassin’s bullet raise the question of how far language should go in a heated campaign.Mr. Biden, who has long preached unity and civility, conceded on Monday that it was “a mistake” to tell supporters a week ago that he wanted to “put Trump in a bull’s-eye,” an expression that was certainly metaphorical but opened the president to criticism after his opponent found himself in literal cross hairs. At the same time, Mr. Biden and his team have made clear that they will not back off efforts to demonstrate that Mr. Trump is a budding dictator who is dangerous to the country.“How do you talk about the threat to democracy, which is real, when a president says things like he says?” Mr. Biden asked Lester Holt of NBC News on Monday during his first interview since the assassination attempt. “Do you just not say anything because it may incite somebody? Look, I’m not engaged in that rhetoric. Now, my opponent is engaged in that rhetoric.”Mr. Biden responded to the shooting in Butler, Pa., on Saturday by calling Mr. Trump to express relief that he was not more seriously wounded and urging Americans to “lower the temperature” this campaign season. His campaign suspended television ads and its regular barrage of attack emails.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      The Assassination Attempt Against Donald Trump

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      What we know about the shooting in Pennsylvania. Authorities have identified the gunman who tried to assassinate Donald Trump yesterday but are still racing to understand what the shooter’s motives were and how he was able to get so close to Trump.The F.B.I. named the gunman as Thomas Matthew Crooks, a 20-year-old from Bethel Park, Pa., roughly 40 miles from Butler, the small city in western Pennsylvania where the attack occurred. Crooks was a registered Republican, though records show that he had donated money to a liberal voter turnout group in 2021. Here is the latest on Crooks.The attack killed one spectator at the scene and left two others critically injured, officials said. Trump had blood on his face as he was escorted from the stage but was safe this morning.The assassination attempt added a shocking and violent turn to a presidential campaign that had already been more tumultuous than any in decades. In today’s newsletter, we’ll help you understand what we know this morning.What happenedOur colleague Simon Levien was at the rally during the shooting. “Trump had just started to talk about immigration in his stump speech when several shots rang out from the bleachers to his right,” he wrote. “Everyone immediately ducked — myself included.”There were two bursts of fire — first three shots, and then five.Trump put his hand to his ear and then ducked, before Secret Service agents rushed the stage to shield him. As they began to move him offstage, Trump told them to wait and defiantly pumped his fist, with blood on his face, while the crowd chanted, “U.S.A.” (Watch the video here.)We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More