The Secret Service has announced that no changes will be made to security measures at the Republican National Convention following an assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump. Audrey Gibson-Cicchino, the agency’s RNC convention coordinator, stated that they are confident in their current plans and will move forward with them as planned.
Trump, aged 78, is expected to arrive in Milwaukee on Sunday ahead of the four-day convention during which he will be formally named the Republican nominee for president. This announcement comes after President Biden directed the Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle to review all security measures for the GOP convention in light of the shooting at a Trump rally that left the former president injured, one person dead, and two more injured.
The current security footprint allows armed protesters to enter a so-called “soft perimeter” near the convention site. Closer to Fiserv Forum, where Trump and other GOP pols will address delegates, a “hard” perimeter has been set up by the Secret Service, restricting that area of downtown Milwaukee to only credentialed convention attendees.
RNC officials and the Secret Service have spent 18 months making security preparations for the thousands of delegates, politicians, press, and protesters who have already descended on the Midwestern city for the conference that begins on Monday. Fears of potential violence within the soft perimeter have grown since the assassination attempt on Trump’s life.
Vehicles will be required to pass through security checkpoints to get into the outer perimeter, but the area is otherwise open to the public. Protests have already been planned inside the soft perimeter area. Wisconsin is an open-carry state, meaning that protesters and others within the soft security zone are legally allowed to hold firearms.
Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers reportedly requested that the Secret Service reconsider allowing firearms within the soft perimeter, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. However, Gibson-Cicchino stated she was unaware of Evers’ request.
Milwaukee Mayor Cavaliar Johnson said it is not within the city government’s “purview to ban weapons” and noted that the convention has already received a national special security event designation, the highest possible.
Milwaukee Police Chief Jeffrey Norman expressed confidence in the security plans, stating that the inner perimeter for the event is the largest ever put in place for a political convention. The Secret Service official did not answer questions related to allegations of a security failure at the deadly Butler, Pa., Trump rally.
