In a nation still reeling from violence against public figures, the White House is pressing Congress for an urgent $58 million increase in security funding to protect the executive and judicial branches.
Fox News reported that this push comes on the heels of the tragic assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, alongside recent attempts on President Donald Trump’s life, prompting a critical need for enhanced protective measures as part of a temporary spending bill to avert a government shutdown by September 30, 2025.
Let’s rewind to June 2022, when Nicholas John Roske, now 29, attempted to take the life of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, a chilling precursor to the violence that would follow.
Roske’s guilty plea in April 2025 serves as a grim reminder that threats against our leaders aren’t new, but they’re escalating at a terrifying pace.
Fast forward to July 13, 2024, when Thomas Matthew Crooks, a 20-year-old gunman, fired eight shots at President Trump during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, grazing the president’s ear while tragically killing Corey Comperatore, a 50-year-old firefighter, father, and husband, and injuring two others.
It’s a stark illustration of how close we’ve come to losing key figures, and yet, some still push the narrative that security concerns are overblown—hardly a convincing argument when blood has already been spilled.
Just months later, in September 2024, Ryan Routh was apprehended and charged with attempting to assassinate Trump at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Routh now faces trial for attempted assassination of a major presidential candidate, among other charges, underscoring that these threats are not isolated but part of a disturbing pattern.
Then, on September 10, 2025, tragedy struck again with the assassination of Charlie Kirk, the 31-year-old conservative activist, shot in the neck during his American Comeback Tour at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah.
Kirk’s death has shaken many who value his unapologetic stand against progressive overreach, and it’s no surprise that the White House, as confirmed by a spokesperson from the Office of Management and Budget, is now racing to secure additional resources.
The requested $58 million, to be tacked onto a continuing resolution, isn’t just about preventing a shutdown by the end of September 2025—it’s about ensuring that those in the line of fire, whether in the Oval Office or the Supreme Court, aren’t left vulnerable to the next unhinged attacker.
While details on how these funds will be allocated remain scarce, and the White House has yet to respond to inquiries from Fox News Digital, the urgency is clear as day.
The U.S. Secret Service, extending condolences to the Kirk family, has stayed tight-lipped on specifics regarding President Trump’s security detail but is rolling out changes like expanded drone surveillance and counter-drone tech following the Butler incident, as noted in reports from December 2024.
Former Secret Service agent Tim Miller didn’t mince words on the stakes, telling Fox News Digital, “The Secret Service now has to play at a level of enhanced security that they've never dreamed of before.”
He added, “I think (Secret Service Director Sean Curran) is doing a good job in leading that effort. But here's the bad news for the Secret Service: They don't have time. This threat is now.”
Miller’s urgency cuts through any bureaucratic fog—when a president’s ear has already been grazed, complacency isn’t an option, no matter how much some might downplay the risks in the name of “normalcy.”
