(NewsNation) — A huge pane of bulletproof glass shared the stage with former President Donald Trump at his Wednesday rally in Asheboro, North Carolina. It was Trump’s first outdoor rally since a bullet grazed his ear July 13 in Butler, Pennsylvania.
“I’m happy to see that they’ve stepped up and that they’ve added these additional resources,” said former Secret Service agent Michael Matranga on NewsNation’s “Elizabeth Vargas Reports.” “I think that it should make the American people have some restored faith in the United States Secret Service.”
Noting that agents guarding former presidents and candidates typically have fewer resources than their White House colleagues, Matranga said, “It’s never enough, but I do commend the Secret Service for taking these additional measures. These are things we’ve had at our disposal for a very long time.”
Trump spoke from behind a podium surrounded by panes of bulletproof glass that formed a protective wall across the stage. Beyond the stage, storage containers were stacked around the perimeter to create additional walls and block sight lines. Snipers were positioned on roofs at the venue.
Matranga also discounted the timeline discrepancy that appears in a newly surfaced video from the Butler rally. Failed assassin Thomas Crooks is seen walking around the venue about 90 minutes before he fired the shots that wounded Trump, killed a supporter and wounded two others.
“It’s much ado about nothing. I think there’s probably some conflicting timelines here that haven’t been worked out yet. If the countersnipers are pretty sure that they saw him on site around that AGR building, I’m going to go with their word,” he said.