Dan Bongino, conservative radio host and former Secret Service agent, praised former President Donald Trump for essentially saving his own life during the attempted assassination on Saturday. Bongino didn’t hold back, slamming the Secret Service for what he called an “absolutely catastrophic” failure at Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. According to Bongino, it was Trump’s quick thinking that made all the difference.
“The bunting around the front of the stage is probably armor. Donald Trump knew to duck. I mean, most people would. He saved his own life,” Bongino shared on Fox News’ “Fox & Friends Sunday.” Trump, at 78, was sharp enough to react just in time, turning his head slightly before the shots rang out, grabbing his ear, and ducking down. This quick action gave the Secret Service agents time to form a human shield around him.
Trump later described feeling a bullet “pierced the upper part of my right ear” and said it “ripped through the skin.” The suspected shooter, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks from Pennsylvania, was quickly identified, and the FBI is treating the incident as an assassination attempt. The attack resulted in one death and two severe injuries.
Bongino, who served in the Secret Service from 1999 to 2011, did not mince words when criticizing the agency’s response. “If that’s the best technology we have, and we had a CS [Counter Sniper] team up there — we’re trained out to 1,000 yards in the Secret Service with the counter sniper team — how did they miss someone, at most 1/5 of the way there? It doesn’t make any sense,” he questioned.
“Even worse, it’s broad daylight on a white roof.” One witness reported seeing the gunman crawling on a roof about 130 yards from the stage where Trump was speaking and tried to alert authorities. Reports suggest the shooter was on a roof outside the security perimeter when he opened fire and was later “neutralized” by law enforcement, according to the Secret Service.
Bongino didn’t stop there, criticizing the overall evacuation process. “The evacuation did not go right,” he noted. “The rule with the Secret Service is cover the protectee and evacuate.” He did, however, commend the agents on stage for their swift action to protect Trump.
Furthermore, Bongino challenged the Secret Service’s denial of claims that Trump’s team had previously requested more robust security. Rep. Mike Waltz (R-Fla.) and others with close ties to Trump have asserted that such requests were made and denied by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
Secret Service spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi refuted these allegations on X, stating, “There’s an untrue assertion that a member of the former President’s team requested additional security resources & that those were rebuffed. This is absolutely false.” He insisted that protective resources had indeed been increased due to the heightened campaign activity.
Bongino, however, remained deeply skeptical of this denial, insisting he had reliable sources confirming that repeated requests for increased security had been made. “I can tell you, and absolutely confirm from the horse’s mouth, from multiple people, not just one…there have been repeated requests [to] increase the security footprint,” he stated.
This incident underscores the need for heightened vigilance and better-prepared responses from those tasked with protecting high-profile political figures.
