How the Trump campaign has been forced to adapt to assassination threats

Less than two weeks after an assassin’s bullet grazed Donald Trump’s ear this summer, he was held backstage at a Nashville event for more than an hour because of a potential security threat.

A man had evaded security and disappeared into the crowd without being checked. There was a lengthy Secret Service search to review video, interview those he was seen with and learn why he had broken procedures. Advisers discussed whether Trump should go onstage, as a crowd of 20,000 people waited in the large auditorium. Should they cancel the event? But if they canceled the first large event after the shooting, what signal would that send?

Eventually the all-clear was given, and the event went off without a hitch.

“Former President Trump’s remarks were delayed at the 2024 Bitcoin conference in Nashville Tennessee while two credentialed and screened individuals were removed from the premises for not following proper entry protocols,” Secret Service spokeswoman Melissa McKenzie said in a statement Tuesday about the incident, which has not previously been reported. “It was determined that there was no protective interest with these individuals and there was never a threat to the former president.”