Former President Donald Trump plans to stop holding outdoor rallies like the one where he was shot during an assassination attempt this month in Butler, Pennsylvania, according to two sources familiar with his campaign’s operations.
The sources said current plans are to hold indoor rallies, but they also said it’s possible Trump will participate in smaller outdoor events or larger rallies in facilities where entrances are more fully controlled and there are not issues with high ground nearby, like stadiums.
Spokespeople for the Trump campaign and the Secret Service did not immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday night.
News of the shift in venues comes the day the director of the Secret Service, Kimberly Cheatle, announced her resignation. In her resignation letter, Cheatle said she took “full responsibility for the security lapse” in Pennsylvania.
In a phone interview with Newsmax on Tuesday night, Trump commented on her resignation by saying, “I just heard that she is out and she, I don’t think, had much of a choice.”
He added that in recent months his campaign had been asking for more Secret Service agents at campaign events but was “not getting them.”
Trump has referred to his safety multiple times since the shooting on July 13, which also killed a rallygoer and injured two others. During a walkthrough before his prime-time speech at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee last week, Trump remarked that he felt safe inside, a source familiar with the matter said.
Trump’s team had planned to do an outdoor arrival and greeting with supporters ahead of his convention speech, but it was canceled after the assassination attempt, according to a source familiar with the planning.
In his Newsmax interview, Trump also talked about an indoor rally he held in Michigan over the weekend.
“Do I feel safe? Yeah, I have to feel safe. Otherwise, I guess, I wouldn’t be able to do this stuff,” he said.
Elyse Perlmutter-Gumbiner contributed.
