Donald Trump has accused Joe Biden and Kamala Harris of being responsible for last month’s attempted assassination against him, claiming they made it harder for the Secret Service to ensure his safety.
The Republican presidential candidate made these accusations, without providing any evidence, on the television show “Dr. Phil,” hosted by Phil McGraw, on Tuesday. His remarks come after reports that several Secret Service agents from the Pittsburgh office were put on administrative leave following the shooting on July 13.
At a campaign event in Butler, Pennsylvania, last month, Trump was grazed by a bullet on his ear after a 20-year-old shooter fired from a nearby building’s roof. Corey Comperatore, an attendee, was killed, and two others were severely injured. The shooter was subsequently shot dead by a Secret Service officer.
“When this happened, people would ask, whose fault is it?” Trump said to McGraw. “I think to a certain extent it’s Biden’s fault and Harris’s fault. And I’m the opponent. They weaponized the government against me; they brought in the whole DoJ to try and get me, and they weren’t too interested in my health and safety.
“They were making it very difficult to have proper staffing in terms of Secret Service.”
Following the attempt on Trump’s life, the Secret Service acknowledged that Trump’s security detail had raised concerns about inadequate security and personnel over the past two years, admitting they had denied some of the requests.
Since the incident, the Secret Service has increased Trump’s security, reallocating agents from Biden’s previous campaign detail.
The agency’s director, Kimberly Cheatle, resigned after a contentious hearing on Capitol Hill where Republican lawmakers criticized her for not sufficiently addressing potential security lapses that might have contributed to the attempt on Trump’s life.
Despite Trump’s claims, there is no evidence that Biden and Harris were directly involved in or interfered with the Secret Service’s operations. Both Biden and Harris condemned the attempt.
At the time of the shooting, Biden, still the Democratic presidential nominee before later withdrawing, made several statements calling for a reduction in political tensions.
In his Tuesday interview, Trump seemed to blame Biden and Harris for the political rhetoric that he suggested could have incited the assassination attempt.
“They’re saying I’m a threat to democracy,” he stated. “They kept saying that; it was the standard line. Just keep repeating it, and you know that can inspire assassins or potential assassins. That’s a terrible thing … Maybe that bullet is because of their rhetoric.”
The FBI has reported that the gunman acted alone and found no evidence of ideological motivations.
Trump’s comments were his most direct accusations yet regarding the Biden administration’s alleged role in the incident. Previously, on his Truth Social platform, Trump wrote that the administration had failed in its duty to protect him.
“The Biden/Harris Administration did not properly protect me, and I was forced to take a bullet for Democracy. IT WAS MY GREAT HONOR TO DO SO!” he posted ten days after the shooting.
Trump has previously made unsubstantiated allegations that Biden was using the government against him, accusing the president of instigating the Department of Justice’s investigations against him since he left office.
He also claimed that FBI agents were “locked and loaded” and prepared to kill him during a 2022 raid on his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida to retrieve classified documents. The FBI, however, stated that the raid was scheduled to ensure Trump was not present, and agents were armed according to standard procedures.
