Secret Service Has Long Been Wary of Trump's Love of Golf

The Washington Post has a telling anecdote on the security challenges that Donald Trump's love of golf raises for the Secret Service. After he became president, agents showed Trump ordinary photos of him golfing taken by members of the press with long-range lenses. The idea was that a gunman with a long-range lens could similarly get him in range. (Authorities recovered one after the apparent assassination attempt on Sunday.) Trump, however, made clear that he would continue golfing at his multiple courses, and the Post, Politico, and CNN all have stories about the particular risks involved.

• "The problem is, over the last eight years specifically with Trump is that he golfs a lot," retired Secret Service agent Mike Olson tells Politico. "He golfs all the time, so it doesn't take a neurosurgeon to figure out that if he's down at Mar-a-Lago, and it's nice weather, he's probably going to a golf course."

• Another former agent, Bill Gage, makes a similar point to the Post: The suspected gunman on Sunday was believed to have been hiding on the perimeter of the course for 12 hours. "He just had to sit and wait for Trump to arrive," says Gage. "You don't have to do a lot of guessing to know where he is going to be, and that gives a bad guy time to prepare."
• The open spaces of golf courses pose obvious security challenges, notes CNN, and Trump's courses (including Trump International, where the former president golfed on Sunday) are situated in well-trafficked residential areas. Trump also likes to drive his own cart, and he usually does so alone, though with agents nearby.
• Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw told reporters that if Trump were president, the entire course likely would have been surrounded by agents. "But because he's not, security is limited to the areas the Secret Service deems possible." A separate editorial in the Washington Post argues that it's time to resume protecting Trump as if he were president. "Striking the right balance between security and access is not easy," the editorial reads. "But it is the job. Congress should ensure the Secret Service has the resources to do it."

(More Donald Trump stories.)