According to media reports, several Secret Service agents have been placed on leave in connection with the assassination attempt on US presidential candidate Donald Trump. Among them are employees from the Pittsburgh Secret Service branch, which was responsible for protecting Trump at his campaign appearance in mid-July, several US television stations reported on Friday. The Secret Service declined to comment and spoke of a “personnel matter”.
The sequence of events on July 13 in the city of Butler, Pennsylvania, remains under investigation, said Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi. “We are investigating the processes, procedures and factors that led to this operational failure.”
Trump barely survived the attack during the campaign rally on July 13th; he was hit by a bullet in the right ear. A man in the audience was killed, and two other participants in the rally were seriously injured. The suspected perpetrator, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, was shot dead by a Secret Service sniper.
Because of the assassination attempt on Trump and the obvious failure of the Secret Service, its head Kimberly Cheatle had already resigned. The Secret Service is responsible for the protection of current and former US presidents.
