Democrat Rep. Bennie Thompson, the leader of the January 6 Select Committee, attempted to strip Donald Trump of his Secret Service protection before the assassination attempt on Saturday.
Trump was the victim of an assassination attempt during a Pennsylvania rally Saturday. After the shooter began unloading his rifle, Secret Service agents jumped on the president.
The shooter and one bystander died.
“Unfortunately, current law doesn’t anticipate how Secret Service protection would impact the felony prison sentence of a protectee—even a former President,” Thompson wrote in an official statement when introducing the legislation. “It is regrettable that it has come to this, but this previously unthought-of scenario could become our reality. Therefore, it is necessary for us to be prepared and update the law,” he continued, “so the American people can be assured that protective status does not translate into special treatment—and that those who are sentenced to prison will indeed serve the time required of them.”
Leading Democrats introduced legislation intended to strip President Trump of Secret Service protection.
— Alex Pfeiffer (@__Pfeiffer) July 13, 2024
They did that at the same time as Joe Biden called President Trump a "dictator," and Nancy Pelosi said President Trump "must be stopped." pic.twitter.com/x0L5Lq93bz
Breitbart.com reports: Thompson is the top Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee, the body tasked with protecting the safety of the American people.
As Breitbart reported at the time:
The Denying Infinite Security and Government Resources Allocated toward Convicted and Extremely Dishonorable (DISGRACED) Former Protectees Act says that protection will “terminate for any person upon sentencing following conviction for a Federal or State offense that is punishable for a term of imprisonment of at least one year.”
Thompson argues in a fact sheet for the DISGRACED Former Protectees Act, that the bill “would remove the potential for conflicting lines of authority within prisons and allow judges to weigh the sentencing of individuals without having to factor in the logistical concerns of convicts with Secret Service protection.”
Although Trump’s name is not mentioned in the bill’s text, the fact sheet points out that “former President Donald J. Trump’s unprecedented 91 felony charges in Federal and State courts across the country have created a new exigency that Congress must address to ensure Secret Service protection does not interfere with the criminal judicial process and the administration of justice.”
The fact sheet also points out that the bill proposed by Thompson will “apply to former President Trump.”
Byron York, chief political correspondent with the Washington Examiner, pointed out in a post on X that the underlying “obvious subtext” was that taking away Trump’s Secret Service would make it “easier for someone to kill Trump.” York wrote:
Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson ran the January 6 committee, which mixed elements of show trial and reality series. Focused solely on Trump, of course. Now, Thompson wants to take away Trump’s Secret Service protection if Trump is convicted on any of the 88 felony charges levelled against him by elected Democratic prosecutors and a Biden Justice Department appointee. Obvious subtext here is that removing USSS would make it easier for someone to kill Trump, which is arguably the goal of Thompson’s bill, H.R. 8081: The DISGRACED Former Protectees Act.
Trump has accused the January 6 Committee led by Thompson of a being a sham and a weaponized political effort. Transcripts revealed this year showed that the committee withheld and even destroyed evidence that would vindicate Trump.
Trump was convicted in a Manhattan courtroom weeks after Thompson introduced his bill, although sentencing has been postponed and the conviction might be overturned after a Supreme Court decision that could invalidate some of the evidence used to convict Trump.
