The Secret Service briefly prevented former President Donald Trump from taking the stage and giving a speech in Nashville, Tennessee, on Saturday due to a security lapse. The security lapse occurred just two weeks after the former president was shot by a would-be assassin at his July 13 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
According to The New York Post, law enforcement sources explained that Saturday’s delay occurred shortly after 3:30 p.m. and was caused after two attendees at the 2024 Bitcoin Conference in Nashville’s Music City Center entered without properly going through the metal detectors.
In a statement to The New York Post on Monday night, a Secret Service spokesperson said the two individuals were “credentialed and screened,” but that they were forced to leave the event because they did not follow the proper entry protocols.
“It was determined that there was no protective interest with these individuals and there was never a threat to the former president,” the spokesperson said.
While the Secret Service spokesperson explained that the incident did not present a threat to the former president, Trump’s Secret Service detail made him wait until the two attendees were located before he could appear on stage for his keynote address at the Bitcoin event.
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The New York Post reported that both of the individuals involved in the security lapse were questioned by law enforcement officials and removed from the event. However, the individuals were not charged over the incident.
According to The New York Post, both of the individuals were stopped at the first screening checkpoint but were somehow able to bypass the second screening checkpoint. Officials have not indicated how the two individuals were able to bypass the second checkpoint.
Saturday’s security lapse at the 2024 Bitcoin Conference comes just two weeks after would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crook shot the former president in the ear at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania. The assassination attempt against the former president led to the death of a retired fire chief and injuries to two other rally attendees.
In the aftermath of the Trump rally shooting, congressional lawmakers announced investigations into the Secret Service’s security failures, which allowed Crooks to climb a building less than 150 yards from the stage and have a direct shot at Trump. The controversy surrounding the Secret Service’s security failures led to former Secret Service director Kimberly Cheatle resigning last week.
