Conservative Senators Demand Secret Service Treat Trump as a 'Sitting President'

Conservative Senators are demanding Secret Service grant former President Donald Trump the same level of protection assigned to current President and Vice President Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, respectively. 

US Senator Rick Scott (R-FL), alongside Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL), Roger Marshall (R-MD), and others, sent a letter to Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe requesting increased protection for President Trump. 

The push for increased security comes after Trump survived a second assassination attempt in the same number of months. 

Trump’s would-be assassin, Ryan Wesley Routh, was prevented from executing Trump when the Secret Service discovered him aiming a scoped AK-47 at Trump from the bushes of Trump’s golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida. 

According to recent reports, Routh was an avid Biden and Ukraine supporter. 

In their letter, the senators thank Director Rowe for the protection currently being afforded to Trump by the Secret Service yet added that more personnel is needed. 

Specifically, the senators are requesting Trump be characterized as a “protectee with the same level of protective resources afforded to a sitting president.”

Senator Scott explained via press release the request responds to the Secret Service’s inability “to address the security failures” that preceded both attempts against Trump’s life. 

Similarly, Senator Rubio claimed the second assassination attempt reveals the Secret Service’s inability to effectively preempt similar future attacks. 

“After two assassination attempts on former President Trump's life, it's obvious the Secret Service needs to increase protections around him,” said Rubio. 

Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) directly asked President Biden and Vice President Harris to grant Trump protection equivalent to theirs. 

“Two psychopaths have tried to assassinate President Trump in the past two months,” said Senator Tuberville. “I am calling on @POTUS and @VP to provide President Trump with the same presidential protection they have TODAY.”

Neither Biden nor Harris have commented on the request for increased security, with the latter recently expressing her full faith in the Secret Service.