US House of Representatives approves bill to enhance Secret Service protection for Presidential nominees and vice presidential candidates

The US House of Representatives has unanimously approved a bill that aims to enhance Secret Service protection for the Presidential nominees and their respective vice presidential candidates, days after the second assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump. The vote was 405-0, demonstrating the bipartisan support for boosted security amid growing political violence ahead of the November election. 

The Enhanced Presidential Security Act would require the US Secret Service to apply the same standards for determining the number of agents required to protect presidents, vice presidents, and major presidential and vice presidential candidates.

Meanwhile, a new report has revealed that the US Secret Service is responsible for critical security failures during the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania on July 13, which resulted in one death and



several injuries. An internal review, released yesterday, highlighted that Secret Service agents failed to deploy technology that could have detected the attacker, who flew a drone over the rally site hours before the incident. 

The report also pointed to poor coordination between the Secret Service’s advance team and local law enforcement agencies. At a news briefing yesterday, Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe acknowledged a lack of clarity from the Secret Service in their security planning for Trump’s rally.

 

In a separate incident, on the 15th of this month, a man was arrested at the Trump International Golf Club in South Florida after a Secret Service agent spotted a rifle barrel sticking out from a fence. Trump was unharmed in what marked the second assassination attempt in roughly two months.