Following an assassination attempt on former President Trump, the Secret Service has reportedly urged the Trump campaign to reconsider future outdoor events, and one attendee of that tragic event said she may not attend another given the circumstances.
Secret Service officials suggested to the Trump campaign that they no longer hold outdoor rallies, and the campaign is reportedly looking into large indoor venues, according to the Washington Post.
Valerie McGregor is a Trump supporter from Plum, Pennsylvania, and her trip to nearby Butler was her first visit to see the former president. She said she was heartbroken because of what happened that day. McGregor said she is likely not the only one whose traumatic experience may prevent them from visiting another Trump venue again.
Looking back, she said she felt firsthand the same concerns she heard voiced on local radio shows from others, including Wendy Bell and Sean Parnell, after the fact. McGregor said she did not see any surveillance drones when she was there, in one such example.
"I had heard what [the radio shows] discussed right after – and they were right," she said. "They’re things I don’t think about because I had never been to another rally."
In that regard, McGregor said this may be her first and only visit to see the former president. "I hear that President Trump is still doing his rallies; that’s good. But you know what: I don’t know if I’ll go to another, and my husband would like to [go]," she said. "How much safer could you be – you’re at a rally with the former President of the United States?"
On that Saturday in Butler, McGregor attended the rally with a friend, and her husband stayed home to watch it on TV.
She said she and her friend were unable to get a seat despite arriving at the farm show grounds early.
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"We were to the right of the stage [by] about 30 feet," McGregor said, adding she and her friend heard the shots ring out and saw hydraulic fluid begin spewing out of a nearby forklift after its pump was hit with an errant shot. At that point, she watched a speaker crash to the ground that she said was hit by the jet of hydro-fluid.
"I was so excited about going to a rally – I didn’t go to any of President Trump’s rallies before the last election, and I was disappointed that I didn’t go," she said.
As for the move indoors reportedly urged by the Secret Service, McGregor said enclosed rallies offer different risks. At nearby Acrisure Stadium, the longtime home of the Pittsburgh Steelers, concert acts like Kenny Chesney and Garth Brooks routinely sell out the stadiums, she noted.
"It would be more controlled if it was inside – but [Trump] draws such huge crowds," McGregor said. "He’s so well-loved, but equally hated."
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"Heaven forbid something does happen, and then you have people trying to get out from inside," she said.
McGregor also said now-former Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle was given too long after the fact to tender her resignation.
While she considered that an immediate termination would have precluded Congress from calling her to testify this week, McGregor said Cheatle should have been sent packing very soon after the security failures were identified.
Calling upon her own experience working in corporate America, if someone dropped the ball in a very serious way, they would have been "out the door" immediately, she said.
