A former Secret Service agent said Sunday that the Trump administration should be “looking at” scaling back the number of Cabinet officials attending the same events after Saturday’s shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) dinner in Washington.
“Do we need to rethink the idea that we’d have a dozen people in the line of presidential succession in one room?” NewsNation’s Chris Stirewalt asked Robert McDonald on “The Hill Sunday.”
“Yeah, I think your point is spot on, Chris,” McDonald, who is a retired supervisory Secret Service agent responded. “This is something that we probably need to be looking at going forward.”
A man exchanged gunfire with law enforcement at the yearly WHCA dinner on Saturday evening. President Trump and first lady Melania Trump were evacuated, with journalists and government officials left shaken. Other members part of the presidential succession in attendance included Vice President Vance and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.).
Cabinet members, including Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as well as acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, among others, were also at Saturday’s event.
“President Trump does seem to have a lot of Cabinet members in and around [various] events that he does,” he continued. “And I don’t seem to remember that with other presidents that I’ve been with, with the number of Cabinet members that are at various events.”
“So, that is something that probably the Secret Service may want to generate some discussions with the Trump administration to see how we can potentially alleviate that kind of exposure and those kinds of issues,” he added, in response to Stirewalt’s question.
One Secret Service agent was shot by the gunman, who was armed with a shotgun, a handgun and multiple knives, per police. The agent was hit on his bulletproof vest and is expected to recover, administration officials said.
The suspect, according to multiple media reports, has been identified as Cole Allen, 31, of Torrance, Calif.
McDonald on Sunday applauded the Secret Service’s swift response to the incident, echoing Trump.
“I think the service did a very good job last night,” he told NewsNation.
“Nobody got hurt other than the officer who took a bullet to his bulletproof vest, other than perhaps a twisted anchor or a couple of skinned knees,” he continued. “Everybody seems to be okay, and that’s the bottom line.”
