The U.S. Secret Service is under scrutiny following the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on Saturday.
Law enforcement officials have named a suspect, but have yet to identify a motive. Images from the event show blood on Trump's face and right ear. One man was killed, and at least two other people were injured.
Barbara McQuade, former U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan and former deputy chief of the National Security Unit, offered her perspective on what went wrong during former president Donald Trump's Pennsylvania rally on Saturday.
"Secret Service is really just tops in the business." McQuade said. "They're extremely professional, and the idea that they let a sightline like that, within shooting distance, be left unattended, to me, is just unconscionable."
McQuade anticipates seeing after-action studies about what protocols could have prevented the incident. She's particularly interested in understanding what role state and local law enforcement officials played in securing the event, and why exactly they were brought in.
"Although local and state law enforcement are incredibly professional, they're wonderful, protection of a president is not what they're trained to do..." McQuade explained. "And so it may be that we simply need to devote more resources to Secret Service so that they don't need to rely on state and local law enforcement to do the kinds of jobs that they really should be doing themselves."
GUEST:
Barbara McQuade, former U.S. Attorney and professor from practice at University of Michigan Law School
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