How Do We Protect Our Presidents and Presidential Candidates?

The topic of discussion for this Constitution Monday concerns the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump on Saturday, July 13, 2024. Assassinations and attempted assassinations of presidents and presidential candidates are not new as shown by the timeline put together by Politico. I am intentionally leaving out the names of the assassins. 

January 30, 1835: Assassin attempts to shoot President Andrew Jackson at the Capitol. Both of his pistols misfire….

April 14, 1865: President Abraham Lincoln is mortally wounded….

July 2, 1881: President James Garfield is shot … at a train station in Washington… died in September.

September 6, 1901: President William McKinley is shot … at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo and dies of gangrene eight days later.

October 14, 1912: Former President Theodore Roosevelt, seeking the office again, is shot and wounded … while campaigning in Milwaukee. Though he has a bullet in his chest (it passed through a copy of the speech he was to give), Roosevelt addresses the crowd anyway and then seeks medical treatment.

February 15, 1933: Assassin attempts to shoot President-elect Franklin Delano Roosevelt in Miami. His first shot misses Roosevelt; … fires five more shots, fatally wounding Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak.

September 8, 1935: Huey P. Long, a senator from Louisiana who is expected to run for president in 1936, is shot and killed at Louisiana’s State Capitol… widely believed Long was accidentally killed by return fire from his bodyguards.

November 1, 1950: Puerto Rican nationalists try to kill President Harry Truman, who is temporarily residing at Blair House in Washington during White House renovations. [Both assassins were killed before entering Blair House.]

December 11, 1960: Assassin plans to crash into the car of President-elect John F. Kennedy and blow it up with dynamite, but changes his mind when he sees the president’s wife and children with him. [Assassin was arrested before he could conduct the plot at a later date.]

November 22, 1963: Kennedy is shot and killed during a motorcade in downtown Dallas; Texas Gov. John Connally is also wounded….

June 5, 1968: Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy is shot and killed in the kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles after winning the California primary….

March 15, 1972: Assassin shoots Democratic presidential candidate George Wallace in Laurel, Maryland, leaving Wallace paralyzed. Three other people were wounded….

February 22, 1974: Assassin hijacks a DC-9 with the intention of crashing it into the White House to kill Nixon, but he is fatally shot by police before he could do so.

September 5, 1975: Assassin tries to shoot President Gerald Ford in Sacramento. Her gun misfires.

September 22, 1975: Assassin shoots at Ford in San Francisco but misses.

March 30, 1981: Assassin shoots President Ronald Reagan as he exits the Hilton Hotel in Washington, seriously wounding the president. Press secretary James Brady is wounded; his death 33 years later would be ruled a homicide….

1993: A plot to blow up President George H.W. Bush by car bomb is foiled in Kuwait. The assassins were in the employ of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

November 11, 2011: Assassin fires multiple shots at the White House, striking the building but not injuring any members of President Barack Obama’s family or anyone else.

2018: Pipe bombs are mailed … to a number of leading Democrats, including Obama, former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and future President Joe Biden. None harmed their target.

July 13, 2024: Former President Donald Trump is shot and wounded during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. One attendee of the rally is killed [with two other attendees wounded]. The Secret Service kills the shooter; the FBI subsequently identifies the would-be assassin….

After the assassination attempt on Trump on Saturday, new findings emerged. Pennsylvania State Police Lieutenant Colonel George Bivens indicated that authorities “do not believe it was a lone wolf attack.” These words signal that the 20-year-old attacker most likely had accomplices.” This is one of the reasons why the public is asked “to provide video footage and photographic evidence.” The deceased assassin has been identified, and information is being gathered about him. 

According to media sources, FBI Special Agent Kevin Rojek said, “it is surprising” that the assassin was able to fire several shots.” He also noted that the Secret Service is responsible to conduct preliminary security assessments. They are responsible for securing the scene, so they must answer questions about the security at the rally.

Reports indicate that the Trump assassin had “explosives in his vehicle and at his residence.” Two unnamed law enforcement officials shared the belief that “the firearm was an AR-style rifle, purchased by his father over six months ago.” Investigation about possession of the weapon and motive are ongoing. The home has a police cordon around it. 

The political affiliations of the assassin are unclear. He “was registered as a Republican voter in Pennsylvania,” but “campaign finance documents reveal a $15 donation to a progressive political action committee.” Court records in Pennsylvania “show no criminal history” for the assassin.

Trump gives credit to God for preventing his death and calls for unity in America.