Former President Donald Trump is now pointing fingers at President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, accusing them of failing to protect him during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, where a fellow Republican gunman targeted him and fatally wounded a rally attendee.
Trump’s camp has propagated unsubstantiated and perilous conspiracy theories, suggesting the shooting was part of an orchestrated assassination plot sanctioned by the administration or alleging the Biden team denied requests for heightened security measures—a claim dismissed by the Secret Service.
Taking to his Truth Social platform, Trump directly blamed Biden and Harris, insisting they bear responsibility for jeopardizing his safety during what he described as an act of valor for democracy. “The Biden/Harris Administration did not properly protect me, and I was forced to take a bullet for Democracy,” he asserted defiantly. “IT WAS MY GREAT HONOR TO DO SO!”
Trump’s post comes as Kimberly Cheatle resigned from her role as director of the US Secret Service after amidst widespread demands for accountability in the aftermath of the shooting.
“She never gave me proper protection, so I ended up having to take a bullet for democracy,” Trump told Fox News Digital after her resignation on Tuesday.
Trump’s allegations have provoked contentious debate, with congressional hearings probing into security lapses during the rally and accusations of a potential cover-up.
During Monday’s House Oversight Committee hearing, Trump-allied congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene demanded to know whether the Secret Service was engaged in a “conspiracy to kill President Trump.”
“Was there a stand-down order, Ms Cheatle? Was there a conspiracy to kill President Trump?” she asked.
During a tense House Oversight Committee session, Cheatle was grilled by members of both parties. Trump-aligned lawmakers pressed Cheatle on whether the Secret Service had intentionally ignored threats against the former president, fueling further speculation of governmental malfeasance.
MAGA Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene demanded to know whether the Secret Service was engaged in a “conspiracy to kill President Trump.”
“Was there a stand-down order, Ms Cheatle? Was there a conspiracy to kill President Trump?” she asked.
Far-right congresswoman Lauren Boebert also injected a conspiracy theory that the Secret Service sniper who fatally shot the gunman was “given an order to hold fire.”
During thehearing, Democratic congresswoman Jasmine Crockett told Cheatle that her agency’s failure to publicly provide more details about the events surrounding the attack are likely to fuel more conspiracy-mongering.
“So long as these conspiracy theories continue to fester, it is going to make your job that much harder,” she said.
