One week after former President Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt, the 2024 GOP nominee is revealing disturbing details on the event that could have drastically changed the course of history.
During Trump's first sit-down interview after last week's failed assassination attempt, the former president said he was left in the dark about the 20-year-old gunman, Thomas Matthew Crooks, who fired shots just moments after Trump took the stage in Pennsylvania.
Fox News's Jesse Watters pointed out that the Secret Service was aware of a potential threat but declined to inform Trump and let him take the stage anyway.
"Nobody mentioned it," Trump said. "Nobody said it was a problem."
The potential and likely next POTUS said it was a mistake the Secret Service didn't warn him despite agents monitoring the sniper for nearly an hour before the tragic incident took place.
"[They] could've said, 'Let's wait for 15, 20 minutes, 5 minutes.' Nobody said [anything]," he continued.
On Saturday, the Secret Service claimed that in the past two years, the agency has not given them enough resources and personnel to effectively do its job as it faces criticism over how a sniper accessed a roof roughly 150 meters from Trump without anyone noticing.
Trump later said he questioned how Crooks got on the roof, demanding to know why he wasn't warned despite witnesses pointing him out to law enforcement.
"When you have Trumpers screaming, the woman in the red shirt, 'There's a man on the roof,' and other people, 'There's a man on the roof and who's got a gun,'…that was quite a bit before I walked on the stage. And I would've thought someone would've done something about it," Trump said.
At the same time, CNN pointed out that the Secret Service admitted to delaying requests from Trump's security team over the years.
Some close to the former president felt the decisions, which they believed were personal to Trump, came from the agency's top ranks. While Trump holds close relationships with members of his Secret Service detail, the relationship between those agents and the upper ranks of the agency has been tense for some time, according to multiple sources familiar with the dynamic. In response to questions from CNN over whether the Secret Service had denied additional security requests, a spokesperson told CNN the agency makes "modifications" when certain resources are not provided to protectees.
In the days following the would-be assassination, Secret Service Director Kim Cheatle faces calls to resign— which she currently is refusing to do.
In a briefing held by the Secret Service last week, Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) called the meeting "completely worthless," saying that the information the agency provided could be summed up "in two minutes."
Marshall said there was nothing new that the agency informed lawmakers during the closed-door meeting that wasn't already said on the news.
The Secret Service responded Saturday night to reports that top officials denied Trump's team's requests to amplify his security detail.
"Every day, we work in a dynamic threat environment to ensure our protectees are safe and secure across multiple events, travel, and other challenging environments," the statement read. "We execute a comprehensive and layered strategy to balance personnel, technology, and specialized operational needs."
"In some instances where specific Secret Service specialized units or resources were not provided, the agency made modifications to ensure the security of the protected. This may include utilizing state or local partners to provide specialized functions or otherwise identifying alternatives to reduce public exposure of a protectee," the statement continued.
One week after his near-death experience, Trump took the stage once again at a rally— but this time in Michigan.
He lashed out at Democrats who continually say he is a "threat to democracy," saying, "What the hell did I do to democracy? Last week, I took a bullet for democracy."
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