Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PA) is the congressional representative for Butler, where former President Donald Trump‘s historic rally is taking place on Saturday, and he said the area is considerably safer than the first one that took place there.
Trump’s July 13 rally saw an assassination attempt on his life from a lone shooter on a sloped roof, a clear security failure for the Secret Service and local law enforcement that has prompted numerous government investigations into the day.
“Well, I will tell you what, on July 13th, this was a mess,” Kelly (R-PA) told the Washington Examiner at the rally.
“Today, this is the safest and most secure spot in America,” Kelly added. “So for every American that is here today, for everybody that wants to be here that is a Trump supporter, for the whole country, we are safe, we are secure. Local law enforcement and the federal agencies have stepped it up.”
Law enforcement had a much-increased presence at Trump’s follow-up rally on July 13, and several new measures have been taken, including a command center. Snipers have been placed on the roof where Thomas Crooks took his shots at Trump, a place that former Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle said had a “safety factor” taken into account when choosing not to place officers there.
The roof has also been obscured by bleachers set to hold what looks like a much larger crowd than Trump’s July 13 event. There are also several cargo containers surrounding the site.
Other measures include teams “equipped to detect harmful chemical, radiological and biological agents have been deployed,” according to the New York Times. Several gaps in security, such as a lack of manpower on hand for the July 13 rally, have been fixed with hundreds of Secret Service agents and local law enforcement.
“We’ve made sure in this planning that those gaps have been covered, very methodically,” Anthony Guglielmi, a spokesman for the Secret Service, told the outlet.
Crowds have been herded through security in a more controlled manner than the last Butler rally. The ballistic glass that has been a mainstay at outdoor Trump rallies since the shooting surrounds the area where the former president is expected to speak.
Another failure cited from the July 13 rally was the lack of technology used to protect the former president. While the shooter had flown a drone to survey the site before the rally, the Secret Service had “technical difficulties” flying its own drone.
The Washington Examiner and other people at the scene have spotted drones around the rally, but it is unconfirmed whether they belong to the Secret Service.
Far more people are in attendance for the second rally, and several notable figures are set to appear, including tech magnate Elon Musk, several congressmen, Sens. J.D. Vance (R-OH) and Eric Schmitt (R-MO), and the family of Corey Comperatore, who was killed at the July 13 rally.
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Trump’s second rally at Butler certainly has election ramifications for him in the state, though the political landscape has changed wildly since his last one. There was hope from the Trump campaign that the assassination attempt could boost his support against President Joe Biden.
But not long after the assassination attempt, Vice President Kamala Harris took over as the Democratic nominee. Since then, Harris has been locked in a dead heat with Trump in Pennsylvania. There’s likely hope from Republicans that Trump’s second rally in Butler can give them the edge they need in the state.