Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-GA) revealed that House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) “demanded” President Joe Biden increase security for former President Donald Trump in the aftermath of a second assassination attempt.
During an interview on the Furthermore with Amanda Head podcast, Clyde criticized Democrats for using and continuing to use “explosive rhetoric” that would “continue to get people hurt.”
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump is surrounded by U.S. Secret Service agents as he is helped off the stage at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, July 13, 2024, after being shot. People across the political spectrum are wondering how a gunman could get so close to Trump when he was supposed to be carefully guarded. (Gene J. Puskar, File/AP)
When asked if there was “something Congress can do” to help increase protection for Trump or to help the Secret Service, in light of two assassination attempts on his life, Clyde explained that Johnson revealed that he had called for Biden to give Trump “the exact same level of protection” that he has.
“Speaker Johnson told us yesterday in a conference that he called up President Biden and demanded of President Biden that he provide President Trump the exact same level of protection that President Biden has,” Clyde explained.
Clyde’s words come almost a week after Ryan Wesley Routh was arrested after the Secret Service spotted him allegedly pointing an AK-style rifle through a fence as he was hiding in the bushes near Trump International Golf Course, where the former president was playing golf.
Photos that show an AK-47 rifle, a backpack, and a Go-Pro camera on a fence outside Trump International Golf Club taken after an assassination attempt of Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump are displayed during a news conference at the Palm Beach County Main Library, Sunday, September 15, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Florida. (Stephany Matat/AP)
“I don’t think the Secret Service needs additional funding,” Clyde added. “What they need is a reorientation of their priorities.”
The second assassination attempt comes after Trump was shot during his rally on July 13 in Butler, Pennsylvania, by a “bullet that pierced” the top of his right ear. Trump was injured after Thomas Matthew Crooks allegedly opened fire from the roof of a nearby building where he had a direct line of sight to the former president.
Corey Comperatore, a former Pennsylvania fire chief, was shot and killed after he threw his daughter and wife to the ground and shielded them at the rally where Trump was shot. Two other men, James Copenhaver and David Dutch, were also injured.
In the aftermath of the first assassination attempt on Trump’s life, the Secret Service has received criticism over the numerous security failings surrounding the Butler rally.