Luck, not success from the Secret Service, has kept former President Donald Trump alive after two assassination attempts this summer, Mark Morgan, a former FBI assistant director, said Tuesday on Newsmax.
"I think the reason why President Trump is alive is because we've had two shooters that were amateurs," Morgan, who also served as the acting commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection under Trump, said on "Wake Up America." "You change their degree of skill, and I think we're talking about a dead President Trump."
A Secret Service agent on Sunday spotted the muzzle of an AK-47-style gun sticking out of shrubbery near where Trump was golfing in West Palm Beach, Florida. The agent opened fire and the suspect, Ryan Wesley Routh, fled without firing any shots at the former president.
Morgan said the Secret Service agent who spotted Routh "did an incredible job," as the barrel of the suspect's gun was less than an inch in diameter and coming through a black chain link fence, through bushes.
Still, the incident points to a need for changes at the Secret Service on how it protects politicians, said Morgan.
"They use what I refer to as a category-based methodology," he said. "Then they go from there instead of basing their model solely on a threat-based, intelligence-drive operationally focused model."
However, it is "irrelevant" to base coverage because on an official's title rather than on threats, said Morgan.
"I don't care whether you're talking about President Trump, [former] President [Barack] Obama, the current president," he said. "Their title is irrelevant. What is relevant is the threat."
Morgan pointed out that there has already been one assassination attempt against Trump and "we know Iran is trying to take him out."
"He's probably one of the most recognizable faces on the face of the planet," said Morgan.
Morgan expressed frustration that acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe Jr. is referring to Sunday's attempt against Trump happening during an "off the record" movement.
"This isn't like he was in a motorcade at the last minute, and he told the team to stop off for a slice of pizza in Brooklyn, New York," said Morgan. "This is a golf course that he's been going out to for over a decade. He went there as president countless times. He's gone there as a former president. This is a golf course the Secret Service knows."
Further, Morgan said, the general public and media also know that Trump golfs at his course when he's in Florida, so "this is not a typical OTR."
"The fact that they did not do a walkthrough, a sweep of that fence line, and post individuals on that road prior to President Trump setting one foot on the golf course, that's what I'm not buying," Morgan said.
Morgan said he's "extremely concerned" about Trump's safety between now and Election Day, particularly after another suspected shooter was able to get within a few hundred yards of the former president after the attempt on his life in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July.
"But here we are," said Morgan. "It goes back to leadership. This isn't the rank and file. I am not impugning the rank and file. This is a leadership issue. It's a cultural issue of how they look at individuals based on their category and not a threat."
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