braking news Former Secret Service officials say agents should've kept Trump low, not fist pumping

On Saturday, an assassination attempt was made on Donald Trump at a rally in Washington. Despite the scare, Trump displayed resilience by standing tall and rallying the crowd with three fist pumps and shouts of "Fight, Fight, Fight!" before being escorted off the stage by his security detail. This moment was captured in an iconic image and later commemorated with a $299 memorabilia item.
However, the Secret Service's response to the incident was criticized by former agents and experts as a serious failure. The standard protocol dictates that Trump should have been swiftly removed from the stage in a protective posture, but instead, he remained exposed for an extended period. The shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, was neutralized by a rooftop counter-sniper, but the incident raised questions about the Secret Service's ability to prevent such threats and their adherence to protocol in the aftermath of the attack.
The agency is also facing scrutiny for allowing the shooter to access a vantage point and for the delay in responding to reports of a suspicious individual. Despite the lapse in protocol, some aspects of the response, such as the initial protection of Trump and the neutralization of the shooter, were in line with training. The incident has sparked a review of Secret Service procedures and the effectiveness of their protective measures.
In the provided document, the focus is on the actions of former President Trump during an incident where Secret Service agents were moving him to a secure location, presumably in response to a security threat. Despite the agents' attempts to swiftly relocate him, Trump was observed pausing and attempting to retrieve his shoes, and later, he stopped, faced the crowd, and appeared to mouth the word "Fight" while raising his fist.

The document also outlines the standard Secret Service training protocol for such situations, which involves agents quickly escorting the protectee to safety by bending them over and rushing them to a secure area or vehicle. This protocol is designed to minimize the protectee's exposure to potential threats. However, the incident involving Trump deviated from these protocols, as he did not comply immediately with the agents' efforts to move him swiftly to safety.

The source of the information, a former Secret Service agent named Smith, who has 29 years of experience and now runs a global security consulting firm, provided insight into the discrepancy between the training protocols and the actual incident. Smith emphasized that the protocol is what is practiced in training, but the incident with Trump did not adhere to these practices.