President Donald Trump was about to let it rip, as he said during the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner on Saturday. Around 9 pm, that all ended: Cole Allen, 31, tried to storm the ballroom and assassinate the president and his top officials. The Secret Service did its job, as did other law enforcement officers. That's the story, but Allen was stopped at the one-yard line, so to speak. And how that happened was not directly related to the actions of federal officers.
RealClearPolitics’ Susan Crabtree has been closely monitoring the agency and its internal operations, and the reports are concerning. Sean Curran receives protection from the Trump administration for reasons that are not entirely clear. White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles was hesitant to pursue additional reforms requested by ex-DHS Secretary Kristi Noem. There’s a lot of horseplay at an agency where professionalism and order should be held sacrosanct. It’s reportedly not right now.
Initially, when asked why the security perimeter at the WHCA dinner wasn’t expanded, Curran stated he couldn’t comment due to classified information. He refused to provide details. Metal detectors were only used outside the ballroom, and attendees observed that security seemed lax for an event attended by top members of the presidential line of succession.
Allen sprinted like a bat out of hell toward the doors. Gunfire was exchanged, but he wasn’t hit. How was Allen stopped? Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche revealed that he tripped yesterday. That’s it. Allen was armed with a handgun, a shotgun, and multiple knives. His manifesto clearly outlined his intended targets—Trump and his officials—and he even confessed to police that he wanted to kill members of the administration after his arrest. He couldn’t have made it inside, maybe got a few shots off, but that alone is unacceptable and frightening.
Did the Secret Service do its job, or were they just lucky again? Also, there are more questions about the agent who was shot during the attack—was this a friendly fire incident? Did Allen get rounds off? All will be revealed, but the fact that luck, not the preparation and training of the agency’s best, saved Trump again is concerning. There is a mountain of questions that need answers, and with the heated rhetoric of left-wingers lusting for the president's death, we can’t rely on luck here, folks.
