President Trump at the U.S. Capitol on Monday. Photo: Greg Nash/Pool/AFP via Getty Images
President Trump on Wednesday tapped Sean Curran, his special agent in charge, to be the next director of the U.S. Secret Service.
Why it matters: Curran will be tasked with leading the agency Congress reported had operational failures during the first assassination attempt against Trump during the presidential campaign.
- Curran was with the president elect during a July rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, where Trump was grazed in the ear by a bullet, per Reuters.
What he’s saying: “Sean is a Great Patriot, who has protected my family over the past few years, and that is why I trust him to lead the Brave Men and Women of the United States Secret Service,” Trump said in a Truth Social post Wednesday.
- Trump called him “a brilliant leader, who is capable of directing and leading operational security plans for some of the most complex Special Security Events in the History of our Country, and the World.”
- “He proved his fearless courage when he risked his own life to help save mine from an assassin’s bullet in Butler, Pennsylvania,” Trump added.
Context: A congressional task force investigated the Secret Service’s July and September operations and found the first assassination attempt against Trump to be preventable.
- “Secret Service personnel with little to no experience in advance planning roles were given significant responsibility,” the final report said in December, despite line of sight issues and existing intelligence about a long-range threat.
- “Further, some of the Secret Service agents in significant advance planning roles did not clearly understand the delineation of their responsibilities.”
- Conversely, the report said, the September attempt in West Palm Beach, Florida, “demonstrated how properly executed protective measures can foil an attempted assassination.”
State of play: Ronald Rowe has served as the agency’s acting director since the resignation of his predecessor, Kimberly Cheatle after the first assassination attempt.
Go deeper: “Preventable” Secret Service failures led up to Trump shooting: Senate panel report
Editor’s note: This article has been updated with comment from President Trump. Sareen Habeshian contributed reporting.
