A former Secret Service supervisory agent argued Sunday that the Trump administration should consider scaling back the number of Cabinet officials attending high-profile events, after a gunman opened fire at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner on Saturday evening.
Speaking on NewsNation’s “The Hill Sunday,” Chris Stirewalt asked Robert McDonald whether the administration should reconsider having “a dozen people in the line of presidential succession in one room.” McDonald, who spent years as a supervisory agent, agreed: “Yeah, I think your point is spot on. This is something that we probably need to be looking at going forward.”
The shooting at the annual dinner forced President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump to evacuate. Other senior officials in the presidential line of succession—including Vice President Vance and House Speaker Mike Johnson—were also present. Multiple Cabinet secretaries, such as Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, were in attendance as well.
McDonald noted that the Trump administration tends to have more Cabinet members at events than previous administrations. “President Trump does seem to have a lot of Cabinet members in and around events that he does,” he said. “I don’t seem to remember that with other presidents that I’ve been with.” He suggested the Secret Service should “generate some discussions with the Trump administration to see how we can potentially alleviate that kind of exposure.”
According to police, the suspect—identified as Cole Allen, 31, of Torrance, California—was armed with a shotgun, a handgun, and multiple knives. One Secret Service agent was shot in the bulletproof vest and is expected to recover. The incident has renewed scrutiny of security protocols for large gatherings involving top officials.
McDonald praised the Secret Service’s swift response, echoing Trump’s own remarks. “I think the service did a very good job last night,” he said. “Nobody got hurt other than the officer who took a bullet to his bulletproof vest… everybody seems to be okay, and that’s the bottom line.”
The attack has prompted broader debate about security at events where multiple members of the chain of command are present. Some lawmakers are calling for a reassessment of joint appearances by Trump and Vance, while the Justice Department is pressuring a preservation group to drop a lawsuit over a Trump ballroom amid the fallout. The suspect’s manifesto reportedly targeted Trump and other officials, raising further questions about threat assessment.
