Following up on reports that the Biden Secret Service denied President Trump’s requests for additional Secret Service protection, Judicial Watch announced it filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for all Secret Service and other records regarding potential increased protective services to former President Trump’s security detail prior to the attempt on his life at his July 13 campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security (No. 1:24-cv-02495)).
Judicial Watch filed the lawsuit after the agency failed to respond to a July 16 FOIA request for:
All records including emails, email chains, email attachments, text messages, video or audio recordings, photographs, outlook calendars, meeting minutes, correspondence, statements, letters, memoranda, reports, briefings, presentations, notes, summaries, requests for assistance, between or among the Office of the Secretary and / or Office of the Deputy Secretary, Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Secret Service, referring or relating to any potential increase or addition of protective resources to President Trump’s protective security detail.
One day after Trump was wounded at the Butler rally, Secret Service spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi said claims that increased protective services requests from Trump’s Secret Service detail had been denied were “absolutely false.”
On July 15, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who oversees the Secret Service, called claims that he had personally denied such requests “baseless and irresponsible” and “unequivocally false” in a CNN interview.
The Washington Post reported on July 20 that the Secret Service had repeatedly denied requests for additional security at Trump events for two years prior to the July 13 assassination attempt by 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks.
According to the Post’s report, Secret Service agents on Trump’s detail had requested magnetometers and additional agents to assist with security screenings at large public gatherings Trump attended, as well as additional snipers and specialty teams at other outdoor events.
Guglielmi admitted to the Post that the Secret Service had denied Trump’s request for additional security but claimed it had only learned about the new information after the July 13 shooting.
Kimberly Cheatle, who was appointed Secret Service Director by President Biden in August 2022, resigned on July 23, one day after she testified before a congressional committee and was highly criticized by both Democrats and Republicans for the security failures on July 13. She called the attempt on Trump’s life the Secret Service’s “most significant operational failure” in decades but failed to answer lawmakers’ specific questions about the investigation into the assassination attempt.
“The Biden-Harris Secret Service lied about denying President Trump increased protection requests and is now trying to cover up that deadly scandal,” said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. “The Biden-Harris administration has yet to release one record about the Trump assassination attempt under FOIA – which is why Judicial Watch is now in federal court.”
In August, Judicial Watch received Secret Service records that showed the Secret Service has made it a top priority that “diversity and inclusion is not just ‘talked about’ – but demonstrated by all employees through ‘Every Action, Every Day.’” [Emphasis in original]
Judicial Watch also uncovered records from the district attorney’s office in Butler County, PA, detailing the extensive preparation of local police for the rally at which former President Trump was shot, including sniper teams, counter assault teams and a quick response force.
In response to a separate open records request, Judicial Watch obtained bodycam footage of the July 13 assassination events from the Butler Township Police Department.
Judicial Watch reported that the FBI withheld information on a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for information about its coordination with the U.S. Secret Service regarding the July 13 Butler, PA, rally.
On July 31, Judicial Watch reported that the United States Secret Service completely denied multiple Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests for documents about the assassination attempt on former President Trump.
Judicial Watch has more than 25 FOIA and open records currently pending on the shooting of Trump with the Biden administration and local and state officials and agencies in Pennsylvania.
