Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley has heard a new whistleblower claim that Secret Service leadership is denying government auditors access to some Trump campaign events to try to hide the fact that former President Trump “is not getting the highest level of protection.”

For example, the whistleblower says auditors were allowed at a recent North Carolina event because Trump DID have full protection there.  This person alleges that this was done to falsely give the impression that Trump got full protection at all events, when he doesn’t.

Sen. Hawley passed this claim along to the new acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe and also Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Inspector General General Joseph Cuffari in separate letters on Wednesday.

Hawley’s letter to Rowe was terse.  In bold and underlined, he wrote, “The whistleblower alleges that the Secret Service denied access to DHS auditors because (Trump) is not receiving the full level of protective assets for all of his events, and Secret Service leadership wants to obscure or simply conceal this fact.”

Hawley added, “You yourself have publicly stated that former President Trump is receiving ‘the highest level of Secret Service protection’ and that ‘he’s getting everything.’  This new whistleblower information troublingly contradicts your public statements.”

He asked Rowe for answers to these two questions:

1.  Has the Secret Service blocked or in any way impeded the ability of DHS OIG (Office of the Inspector General) officials access to ANY Trump campaign events?  Why were these officials denied access?

2.  Is former President Trump receiving “EVERYTHING...the current President has with respect to Secret Service assets” for each of his events?

https://www.hawley.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/2024-10-08-Hawley-Letter-to-Rowe.pdf

Hawley’s letter to Rowe probably will get squat.  It’s the separate letter to Inspector General Cuffari that might actually have some impact.  That one informed the IG that according to new whistleblower allegations, “Secret Service headquarters blocked several of your auditors from accessing recent Trump campaign events.”  (NOTE:  Hawley is saying this is HEADQUARTERS, not some field office staffer.)  The whistleblower alleges “that the denial was in order to hide the fact that the former President is not receiving the same level of protective assets for all of his engagements.”

He advised Cuffari about the North Carolina allegations and closed by saying, “As you continue to audit the agency’s programs and activities, you should be aware of these allegations, which indicate that the Secret Service is not in fact cooperating with your auditors and is instead painting a false picture.”

https://www.hawley.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/2024-10-08-Hawley-Letter-to-Cuffari1.pdf

Sen. Hawley’s office is still soliciting information from whistleblowers, with information about the protection they receive in this press release.  (There’s also a link to his comprehensive whistleblower report from mid-September on the multiple Secret Service failures --- “negligence, sloppiness and gross incompetence” --- on July 13 in Butler, Pennsylvania.)  If the Secret Service can be reformed, it will be in large part because of these brave agents coming forward.

https://www.hawley.senate.gov/hawley-reveals-new-whistleblower-allegations-secret-service-hiding-truth-about-trump-protection/

Closing anecdote:  Speaking of attempted assassinations, co-writers Laura and Pat report going last night to a big-screen showing --- in “VistaVision!” --- of Alfred Hitchcock’s THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH.  This was the 1955 remake with James Stewart and Doris Day.  The story centers around a plot to use a hired gunman to assassinate a visiting dignitary at a concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

In the climactic scene, the two lead characters have seen the gunman up in one of the boxes, and Jimmy Stewart heads out to warn someone in authority to take action before the gunman pulls the trigger.  He sprints from one official-looking person to another but can’t seem to get anywhere; even the police don’t take him seriously.  A split-second before the gunman shoots, Doris screams in terror, disrupting the gunman enough to make him miss and merely graze the arm of his target.

They say it wasn’t possible not to think of Butler, Pennsylvania, while watching this, especially the way no one in authority took action after being warned of the gunman perched up high.  Trump’s second assassination attempt came to mind, too, during a close-up shot of the barrel of the gun, slowly emerging from darkness through a curtain and catching the light, like the one in the bushes at the golf course.