It was bad enough that the US Secret Service agents surrounding Donald Trump during last Saturday’s assassination attempt appeared distracted as they fumbled with the holsters holding their guns. But it has now emerged that they took a conscious decision not to put operatives on the roof from where shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks was later to launch his attack. Why? Because doing so would pose a health-and-safety risk. Apparently, the sloped roof used by Trump’s would-be assassin was deemed ‘too dangerous’ for agents to use. Such institutionalised cowardice ought to disturb every public figure facing the threat of political violence.
