Surging political violence in the US: Is the Secret Service up to the job? | DW News

US Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle has admitted that her agency failed to protect Donald Trump against an assassination attempt in Pennsylvania on July 13th. Lawmakers have been expressing anger over how the gunman could get so close to the Republican presidential nominee when he was supposed to be carefully guarded. The Secret Service has acknowledged that it denied some requests by Trump's campaign for increased security at his events in the years BEFORE the assassination attempt. Addressing Congress, Director Cheatle described it as the agency's "most significant operational failure" for decades. With the political climate in the US getting more dangerous than in the decades past, is the secret service up to the job?