How Donald Trump will be protected at the Club World Cup final... a year on from Butler assassination attempt
Now, less than a year on from the failed assassination attempt on candidate Trump in Pennsylvania, a new report from The Athletic is offering a glimpse at the massive effort to protect the President at Sunday's Chelsea-Paris SG match in New Jersey - as well as next year's FIFA World Cup across North America.
'I'm not going to say it's going to be the worst thing that the protection detail has worked on, but they don't like it,' Michale Evanoff, the former assistant secretary of state for diplomatic security and current global chief security officer of the US security technology company Verkada, told The Athletic.
'You're going into a venue, but who knows? People can throw something… The pie in the face, right? That or throwing fake blood or anything that would embarrass the principal.'
Trump is no stranger to sporting events, attending them regularly during his years as a wealthy real estate mogul and reality television star as well as his two non-consecutive terms in the White House.
But unlike college football games and UFC events, where fans reliably support Trump, World Cup matches offer a wider array of spectators. Fans of Alabama football certainly differ from those of Albanian futbolli, so preparations for the unimaginable range of possibilities can take considerable time and resources.
Further complicating security on Sunday will be Trump's expected participation in the Club World Cup trophy presentation at the end of the Chelsea-Paris SG match at MetLife Stadium.
'When you do the threat and risk assessment, you cover anything that could go wrong: if they were at a mass gathering, what if the stage collapsed?' Nigel Thomas, a former British Special Air Service (SAS) soldier and founder of security training firm, Blue Mountain Group, told The Athletic. 'We will have a standard operating procedure for that, for example. You need to be prepared for it, and that takes communication with stadium security and emergency services.'
Some club teams have already gotten a taste of the security measures before a Club World Cup match in Cincinnati, where Vice President J.D. Vance was on hand.
'We were checked by strict security,' Dortmund head coach Niko told assembled reporters. 'When we left the hotel, we were given a sniff test by a dog. When we got into the stadium, someone came onto the bus with another dog. That's completely normal. It's a World Cup. They are high-level people, so I think it's normal, but it was relatively tight.'
For Trump, both on Sunday and at next year's World Cup, Secret Service officials will work with organizers to put together a route for him to travel to the venue, where he will likely be behind a pane of bulletproof glass – an added layer of protection in case pre-game screenings fail to detect a firearm.
And Trump will hardly be the only person with a security detail on Sunday or at next summer's World Cup. World leaders, billionaires, and soccer officials will also be on hand at venues and other accommodations, which they'll typically travel between in motorcades while traffic is halted.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino is renting office space at one secure location, Trump Tower, which will serve as the massive organization's headquarters during the tournament.
On Sunday, Infantino is expected to sit with Trump, PSG and Chelsea officials, as well as Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the emir of Qatar and previous owner of the Boeing 747-8 jet Trump controversially accepted as a gift.
And with such prestigious individuals on hand, Sunday's Club World Cup final offers American security officials the chance to prepare for fans of 46 participating countries next summer.
'Robust communications, counter-surveillance, and perimeter and access control are a must — large crowds mean reduced maneuverability, limited escape routes and elevated risk of concealment for potential attackers, Rice said. 'Coordinated emergency response plans need to be integrated across agencies and validated before gameday.'
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