Mar-a-Lago Secret Service Request Denied Because It’s a Nightclub: Ex-Agent

Ex-Secret Service agent Dan Bongino accused the Secret Service of denying a request by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump for “enhanced” protection at Mar-a-Lago because the property is classified as a nightclub.
A gunman opened during a Trump rally in Pennsylvania on July 13, with a bullet hitting the upper part of the former president’s ear. The shooter, identified by the FBI as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crook, was shot and killed by the Secret Service. A rally attendee, 50-year-old former firefighter Corey Comperatore, was killed during the incident.
Federal law enforcement, such as the Secret Service, has faced new scrutiny following the shooting, which has been investigated as an assassination attempt against the former president. Congress has set up a committee to investigate the shooting.
On Monday, a group of Trump-aligned conservative lawmakers, separate from the official committee set up by House Speaker Mike Johnson, held a forum into the shooting featuring testimony from Bongino, a former agent who is now a conservative radio personality.
During his testimony, Bongino said a “direct source” told him about the denial of the request from Trump’s team.
Newsweek was unable to verify this claim, and it remained publicly unclear who the “direct source” was. The Secret Service has not confirmed his allegation, and the agency has provided Trump protection at Mar-a-Lago.
Newsweek reached out to the Secret Service for comment via email.
“I was told by a direct source, a direct source, this is the quote, that ‘At Mar-a-Lago, they were begging…for enhanced security. We can’t secure the place like this.’ And one of the quotes was…’We don’t secure nightclubs.’ Really? What if a nightclub owner runs for president? You secure whatever the hell they tell you to secure,” he said.
Bongino did not specify the type of “enhanced” protection that was allegedly denied or when the request was made.
Notably, the Secret Service has provided the former president at his various properties.
Following the assassination attempt, the Secret Service ramped up security at Mar-a-Lago, announcing new road closures that are set to be in place through at least the election in November.
In October 2022, a House committee said Trump’s company was charging Secret Service agents more than $800 per night to stay at Trump’s properties, including Mar-a-Lago, to protect him. Former Representative Carolyn Maloney, who chaired the House Oversight Committee, described the rates as “exorbitant,” according to the Associated Press.
In May 2022, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington reported that the Secret Service had spent nearly $2 million protecting Trump at his various properties.
Acting Director Ronald Rowe Jr. said the agency took “full responsibility” for the law enforcement failings on the day of the shooting. Former Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned in the weeks following the assassination attempt after being accused of refusing to answer key questions about the agency during a congressional hearing into the shooting.