MILWAUKEE– On the floor of the Republican National Convention on Tuesday night, vice presidential candidate JD Vance greeted and shook hands with enthusiastic delegates as he walked toward his seat.
It was a marked contrast to the former president donald trump, who entered the hall a few minutes later and was separated from supporters by a column of Secret Service agents. With his ear still bandaged after an assassination attempt, Trump hugged the wall closely. Instead of handshakes or greetings to those present, he offered fist bumps to the cameras.
The contrast underscores the new reality Trump faces after a gunman opened fire at his rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday, raising serious questions about the agency tasked with protecting the president, former presidents and major party candidates. Trump’s campaign must also adjust to a new reality after he was millimeters away from death or serious injury — and as authorities warn of the potential for more political violence.
Trump campaign officials declined to comment on the increased security and how it could impact their interactions in the future.
“We do not comment on President Trump’s security details. All questions should be directed to the United States Secret Service,” said Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, whose agency oversees the Secret Service, said Monday that he could not discuss “specifics of protection or improvements made as they involve sensitive tactics and procedures. I can say, however, that personnel and other resources, technology and protective capabilities have been added.”
The Secret Service had already reinforced Trump’s protection in the days before the attack, following an unrelated incident. threat from Iran, two US officials said on Tuesday. But that extra security didn’t stop the gunman, who fired from an adjacent rooftop, from killing one audience member and wounding two others, along with Trump.
FBI and Homeland Security officials remain “concerned about the potential for follow-on or retaliatory acts of violence following this attack,” according to a joint intelligence bulletin from Homeland Security and the FBI and obtained by The Associated Press. The bulletin warned that isolated actors and small groups “will continue to view rallies and campaign events as attractive targets.”
Underscoring the security risks, a man armed with an AK-47 pistol, wearing a ski mask and carrying a tactical backpack was detained on Monday near the Fiserv Forum, where the convention is being held.
The attack led to increased security not just for Trump. President Joe Biden’s security was also beefed up, with more agents surrounding him as he boarded Air Force One for Las Vegas on Monday night. Independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. also received Secret Service protection following the shooting.
The Trump campaign has also responded in other ways, including posting armed security around the clock outside its offices in Florida and Washington, DC.
Trump has already scheduled his next rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on Saturday. That’s where he will appear with Vance in his first event as a presidential ticket.
But the new stance complicates, at least for now, the regular interactions Trump has with supporters as he signs autographs, shakes hands and poses for selfies at events and on airplane tarmacs.
In many cities it visits, the campaign brings together enthusiastic supporters in public spaces like restaurants and cafes. Sometimes Trump shows up unannounced. The images and videos of his reception and interactions – released online by his campaign team and conservative media – were critical to his 2024 campaign.
During the Republican Party primaries, in particular, his easy interactions served as a contrast to his more awkward rival, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
But these events can get turbulent and chaotic. While he was in New York during his criminal trial to hide the money, Trump’s aides organized a series of visits to a local bodega, a local fire department, and a construction site.
Before your arrival in the bodega in Harlem, thousands of supporters and onlookers gathered behind metal barricades for blocks to watch his motorcade arrive and cheer. But others in the neighborhood were frustrated by the visit, including people who were dropped off at a bus stop directly in front of the store and others who tried to get into their apartments after work.
At one point, an individual who lived in the building began shouting from a window that was just above the entrance, where Trump would eventually stand and make remarks on camera and answer questions from reporters.
Long before the shooting, convention organizers clashed with the Secret Service over the location of protest zones at the convention. RNC leaders have repeatedly asked authorities to keep protesters further apart than initially planned, arguing that an existing plan “creates a heightened and unsustainable safety risk for the public in attendance.”
A person familiar with the dispute said the original plan would have placed protesters “a softball throw away” from the delegates and close enough to throw projectiles over the fence.
The protest area ended up being moved, but the episode still raises frustrations and suspicions among some Trump allies.
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Associated Press writer Colleen Long in Washington contributed to this report.
