A new book has revealed startling details about security lapses leading up to the attempted assassination of President Donald Trump, shedding light on critical vulnerabilities in the protection measures during his July rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. According to the book, it became "clear there was a problem" in the security arrangements, with several warning signs overlooked leading up to the attack. The revelations have sparked outrage and calls for accountability as questions continue to swirl about how such a breach was allowed to occur despite prior intelligence and alerts.
The book Revenge: The Inside Story of Trump's Return to Power by Axios Senior Political Reporter Alex Isenstadt reveals how Trump’s security team members were concerned about the president’s safety before he began campaigning.
Isenstadt disclosed that Trump’s staff pointed to multiple instances where the president’s safety was compromised, including an August 2023 appearance at a Washington courthouse for an arraignment, where the elevator malfunctioned, stopping at random floors and exposing him to onlookers in the building.
According to the book, the Secret Service and the U.S. Marshals had "neglected to shut off the public’s access to the elevator Trump was using, leaving him exposed to whoever was in the building."
“Trump’s elevator stopped at each floor, and after the door opened, onlookers gawked…Total freakshow, an aide with Trump in the elevator thought,” Isenstadt wrote.
An excerpt from the book also explained another instance during a four-mile ride back to Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C., when police officers didn’t clear the roads for Trump’s motorcade.
“As the black SUVs barreled out of the city and onto the George Washington Memorial Parkway, it was clear there was a problem,” the book read. “Rush-hour drivers had clogged the rain-soaked roads and were weaving in and out of the same lanes as Trump’s vehicle. At one point, an accident was averted when a car cut in front of a van transporting the press pool, causing the van’s driver to slam the brakes. Trump could get rammed, though one member of Trump’s entourage.”
The Trump team and the president’s Secret Service detail, which Sean Curran led at the time, raised concerns that the threat level surrounding Trump was increasing. However, because the Secret Service was dealing with staffing shortages, many requests to provide the president with security detail were denied.
“As the Republican convention neared, the Trumpians were asking for the perimeter around the site to be expanded so protesters couldn’t get so close to attendees. Secret Service leadership in Washington insisted the plan they already had was fine,” Isenstadt wrote.
His staff even worried about Trump’s safety while at home at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida.
The book implied that security at the president’s residence was lax, with staff expressing concerns that while Trump dined on his open-air patio, a visitor to Mar-a-Lago could easily approach and draw a weapon.
“The club was like a fishbowl, crawling with all kinds of visitors from God knows where," the book continued. "People who went to [Mar-a-Lago] to meet with Trump got wanded [sic] by the Secret Service. But others often got in unchecked. And given that Trump many times spent the dinner hour at his open-air patio, someone could simply walk up to him with a gun.”
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