The Secret Service has come under fire this week after a rifle-wielding gunman was able to scale a building and shoot at former President Donald Trump , wounding his ear. And now, experts say it wasn't just the response leading up to the shooting that raised questions — it was their puzzling actions in the immediate aftermath. Former Secret Service agents and field experts told NBC News they were stunned by the Secret Service's response to what unfolded Saturday at the Butler, Pennslyvania, rally.
"They stayed on that stage for over a minute,” Richard Aitch, a close protection expert and former member of the Royal Military Police, told the outlet. “What on Earth were they doing? It was shocking.” Read also: Opinion: Conspiracy theories on the Trump assassination attempt are spreading like wildfire He blasted the agents for trying to cover Trump on stage with their bodies, noting rifle bullets would tear right through them.
“The moment you know you are getting incoming rounds, you grab hold on to that boss and you throw him into a car and you get out of there as quickly as you can with the maximum amount of aggression,” he said. Meanwhile, field expert Chris Story told the outlet he's seen middle-schoolers "do better rugby scrums than the protective formation they used.” "They did a really good job in covering, but after that, there was no movement,” he said.
An official briefed on the Secret Service response told the news outlet agents were informed the shoote.
