While five kill teams are actively trying to assassinate Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., told Newsmax he's skeptical that the Secret Service is ready to meet those "robust" threats right now, and there's a working theory as to why.
Gaetz joined "Greg Kelly Reports" on Tuesday night to shed more light on the foreign assassination teams purportedly tracking Trump. But more aggravating to Gaetz is how the Secret Service, run by acting director Ronald Rowe Jr., is responding.
Rowe said Tuesday that he is not aware of the five kills teams outlined by Gaetz.
"I had a DHS [Department of Homeland Security] official in my office saying that you had a Pakistan-linked team, you had a Ukraine-linked team, you had an Iran-linked team, and two that emerged in the United States. And then just days later, this guy [Ryan Wesley Routh], who is rhetorically and proverbially wrapped in the Ukrainian flag, is able to lay in wait outside of President Trump's golf course and not detected by dogs or drones or any of the assets there," Gaetz said.
"So that looked like a defeated acting head of the Secret Service, not somebody ready to meet the threat that we see pretty robust out there in the world right now."
Gaetz said the Pakistan-linked team is the least of the foreign threats, while the Iran-linked team could be more than one group. Regardless, Gaetz insisted that Trump requires more agents on these security details but shared a theory as to why that's been slow to happen.
"And here is a theory that some in the rank and file have shared with me. Through all these DEI [diversity, equity, and inclusion] hires and through all this social promotion that's occurred in every level of government, you now have a ruling class at the top of the Secret Service and elsewhere that doesn't want to make Trump look too authoritative," Gaetz said.
"And if he had the full Secret Service detail that he needs, given this very robust threat environment, well, then he would look stronger, he would look ascendant, he would look more powerful.
"And so we are now to the point in this country where, for the sake of optics, we're not protecting a leading candidate for the presidency and the former president of the United States," he added. "We should never do that.
"That's the type of stuff you see in Third World countries, not in the United States of America. And if it's driven by that sinister motive rather than incompetence, it's even worse."
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