Milwaukee mayor says he has confidence in law enforcement ahead of convention

Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson (D) said he is confident in the law enforcement officers who will be on scene for this week’s Republican National Convention, where former President Trump is expected to be officially nominated as the party’s presidential candidate following the assassination attempt against him over the weekend.

When asked Sunday on CNN if he is confident the city of Milwaukee is “safe and secure” for the GOP convention, Johnson said, “Yes, I am. I have confidence in the Secret Service. I have confidence, certainly, in the Milwaukee Police Department.”

“As was mentioned, we’ve worked at this for some 18 months, some 18 months, and Milwaukee is designated a national special safety or security event. So, it’s the highest designation, even higher so than what we saw in Pennsylvania just the other day,” he added.

Concerns over security — especially for political events — were heightened over the weekend, when shots were fired at Trump’s campaign rally in Butler, Pa., wounding the former president, who said a bullet pierced his ear. One attendee was killed, and two others who were injured were in stable condition as of Sunday, according to Pennsylvania State Police.

The shooter, identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, of Bethel Park, Pa., was fatally shot by authorities moments after he fired from a nearby rooftop, authorities said. Investigators said Sunday they were still trying to determine a motive for the shooting. Bomb-making materials were found inside Crooks’s vehicle and home, and his phone was sent to an FBI lab in Quantico for further processing and exploitation, officials confirmed Sunday.

CNN anchor Abby Phillip pressed Johnson over why security plans are not changing in light of the assassination attempt.

“Well, again, this is the highest level that you can possibly get in terms of the designation that we have for the Republican National Convention,” he said. “I’ll go on to say that many months before the incident happened in Pennsylvania, that by the way, was horrific. It should have never happened.”

“It shouldn’t happen to kids going to schools, it shouldn’t happen to churchgoers or folks going to the grocery store,” Johnson added. “And it shouldn’t happen to somebody running for president of the United States. But many months ago, myself and several other partners work in a bipartisan fashion in order to bring additional resources to bear for this convention.”

When pressed over about reports that Democratic Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers wanted the Secret Service to reconsider the decision to permit firearms in the soft perimeter, not the hard perimeter, Johnson said, “I don’t think that’s a Secret Service issue. I think that’s the state of Wisconsin issue.”

“Even in the city of Milwaukee, we would have taken up the opportunity to have some more restrictions on the outside,” he said. “Unfortunately, because of state law, we are not able to enact harsher, or I’m sorry, more restrictions for individuals who may decide to carry guns. That’s a state law issue. Local ordinance does not supersede state law in the state of Wisconsin.”

Republican National Convention officials on Sunday said the U.S. Secret Service is not making any changes to its security plans.

“We’re not anticipating any changes to our operational security plans for this event,” said Audrey Gibson-Cicchino, the Republican convention’s coordinator for the Secret Service, at a press briefing.

“We are confident in these security plans that are in for this event, and we’re ready to go. It’s been an 18-month process. We’ve worked together over that 18 months to develop operational security plans for any and all aspects of security related to this event,” she said.

Trump landed in Milwaukee on Sunday night after posting on social media he decided to depart for the convention earlier that day because, “I cannot allow a ‘shooter,’ or potential assassin, to force change to scheduling, or anything else.”

In an interview with another Washington Examiner reporter, Trump said he rewrote his speech for this week’s convention to focus on national unity.

He is slated to formally accept the GOP nomination Thursday night and is widely expected to name his running mate during the convention, potentially on Monday.