Former President Donald Trump now speaks at rallies with bulletproof glass around him. When he exits his plane, a Secret Service agent closely trails him down the steps. And Trump has not golfed since an apparent assassination attempt last week.
On social media Wednesday, Trump said that “Big threats on my life by Iran” have transformed his life on and off the campaign trail.
“I am surrounded by more men, guns, and weapons than I have ever seen before,” he wrote in posts on both Truth Social and X.
Indeed, after his remarks at a campaign stop in North Carolina on Wednesday, Trump was surrounded by a higher-than-normal number of Secret Service agents who heavily controlled the direction of his movements as he approached the rope line to greet supporters.
Protocols for Vice President Kamala Harris have also recently shifted. She, too, is surrounded by bullet-proof glass at outdoor rallies. Counterassault teams, protective intelligence and enhanced drone systems have all been “upped” in recent weeks, according to a law enforcement official, who, like others in this piece, were granted anonymity to speak candidly.
Congress just approved funding for both Harris and Trump to receive presidential-level protections, which one security expert said was unprecedented. And, in another sign of heightened protections, black tarp now obscures what once was a clean view of Harris boarding Marine Two at the Naval Observatory.
The altered environment for the two major party presidential nominees is emblematic of how campaigning in the 2024 election has unfolded after two apparent attempts on Trump’s life since July as well as a separate, ongoing threat from Iran on Trump.
The threats hang over Trump and Harris at a critical moment in the race, having the potential to fundamentally alter how they reach out to voters. With less than six weeks left, it is a time candidates historically accelerate their travel to battleground states, often booking large rallies.
“They are all now getting presidential-level protection from the U.S. Secret Service, which has never been done before,” said Evy Poumpouras, a former Secret Service agent. “Everything is in a much heightened state right now. And they are extremely hyper vigilant at the moment.”
Poumpouras said getting presidential-level protection can mean getting a counterassault team, a countersurveillance unit, a countersniper response unit and bullet-proof vehicles.
“It’s being done because there are two attempts [against Trump]. Attempts historically happen once every couple of decades,” she said. “You typically don’t see one that happens back to back, as we saw basically with President Trump … so that combined with them reporting that the amount of threats that they are getting are just really at a capacity that they’ve not seen before.”
Last week, the U.S. Secret Service made the extraordinary admission that it needs a “paradigm shift” in how it protects its principals. That was after Kimberly Cheatle resigned as the agency’s director in late July amid criticism of its handling of security before a gunman fired several rounds at Trump during a July 13 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, striking the former president’s ear. One person was killed in the shooting, and two were injured.
Despite heightened scrutiny of the agency after that security failure, another apparent assassination attempt played out last week at a golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida. A Secret Service agent spotted a rifle poking out of bushes outside the golf course and fired, causing the gunman to flee.
The suspect, Ryan Routh, was later arrested. A criminal complaint disclosed that he had been waiting in the bushes for 12 hours. Authorities found abandoned by the bushes a loaded SKS-style 7.62×39 caliber rifle with a scope that had an “obliterated” serial number.
It is all a marked shift from the 2020 campaign, when pandemic concerns dominated the trail, limiting then-candidate Joe Biden’s movements, and for a time, curbing door-knocking efforts among Democrats. Republicans handled it differently, with Trump, then president and fresh from having Covid himself, racing to battleground states and holding rallies.
Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe said at a news conference last week that the agency needed more resources. While Congress has just approved additional funding, a senior administration official said Wednesday the Secret Service will ask for even more later.
A law enforcement official said there have been “significant security enhancements” made to both Harris and Trump’s operations since the Butler rally, with the two candidates now at the “highest level of protection” the Secret Service can offer to anyone, anywhere in the world.
On Tuesday, police were investigating gunshots fired at a Democratic Party-coordinated campaign office for Harris in Tempe, Arizona. Police said in a statement that as they investigate, they are taking additional security measures to “ensure the safety of staff and others in the area.”
This week, in one of the most visible signs of an added layer of security, an agent could be seen for the first time following Trump as he descended the stairs of his plane.
“Given recent events, the Secret Service is taking a heightened posture in its protection of the former president,” an agency official said about the additional security. So far, the agency is not expected to have an agent follow Harris from the plane, given that countersnipers are in place any time Air Force Two takes off or lands, the earlier law enforcement official said.
In another change, access to the schedule detailing Trump’s daily movements, which has long gone out not only to staff but also some allies, has recently become more restricted because of security concerns, according to a person familiar with the matter.
But that person said Trump had no plans to stop golfing, characterizing it as a social outlet for the former president.
“You don’t stop Donald from playing golf,” the person said.
Still, a second person familiar with the discussions around Trump’s protection said there is a recognition on the part of both the Secret Service and the Trump campaign that some venues are safer than others. Since the second apparent assassination attempt on Sept. 15, this person said that Trump understands that playing golf increases his exposure, particularly at certain courses that are more accessible to the general public.
“There are golf clubs that are easier to secure, and there are golf clubs that are more difficult to secure,” the person said.
Secret Service agents have presented both Harris and Trump with a clear threat picture, pointing out environments that put them more at risk, and golfing is in that category, according to a senior administration official and a person with knowledge of discussions about security.
Layered atop the recent assassination attempts on Trump is an ongoing threat from Iran. In a statement Tuesday, Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung disclosed that Trump had received an intelligence briefing about Iran.
“President Trump was briefed earlier today by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence regarding real and specific threats from Iran to assassinate him in an effort to destabilize and sow chaos in the United States,” Cheung said.
An official with the Trump campaign said it had no intention of altering or modifying its campaigning after this briefing.
And on Oct. 5, Trump is planning to return to the same Butler Farm Show grounds, 12 weeks after he was struck in the ear by a gunman’s bullet. Trump had telegraphed as much since he was injured on July 13, saying he planned to return for a “big, beautiful rally.”
Trump had telegraphed as much since he was injured on July 13, saying he planned to return for a “big, beautiful rally.”
This time though, it will be held with the enhanced security protections, including his expected positioning Trump behind bulletproof glass if the rally is outside.
