Palm Beach Sheriff candidate blames incumbent for assassination attempt on Donald Trump

(L-R) Michael Gauger hopes to supplant Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw, the man to whom he served as second-in-command for 16 years. The Palm Beach Police Benevolent Association wants to stop him from succeeding. Images via the candidates.

Republican Palm Beach Sheriff candidate Michael Gauger thinks lax security on the part of Democratic incumbent Ric Bradshaw was at least partially to blame for the most recent attempt on Donald Trump’s life.

Bradshaw, whom Gauger worked under as Chief Deputy for 16 years, said that assertion shows he is “clueless” about what goes into being the county’s top cop and what role the Sheriff’s Office has in protecting former Presidents.

Secret Service agents on Sunday thwarted a potential attack on Trump at the golf course of his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, briefly opening fire and eventually taking the suspect into custody.

Later, reports said the suspect camped outside the golf course for 12 hours.

Gauger said in a statement Monday that under Bradshaw’s leadership, the Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office (PBSO) showed little urgency in preventing an attack on Trump. This was especially egregious, he said, considering the former President had nearly been killed by another would-be assassin two months ago.

At the very least, Gauger said, PBSO deputies should have swept the golf course’s perimeter before Trump’s game and used the agency’s all-terrain vehicles to check canal banks for loiterers and foot or vehicle traffic.

He added that the PBSO also has an advanced drone unit that “should have been deployed,” and the office has helicopters with heat-seeking devices and trained K-9 units it could have used to ensure Trump’s safety.

But what appeared to irk Gauger the most — a nearly 50-year law enforcement veteran who, according to his campaign, assisted the Secret Service in six presidential protection details — is how close the would-be killer got to Trump after Bradshaw assured the public after a shooting in July that people shouldn’t worry about the ex-President’s safety on his watch.

He also took umbrage with Bradshaw’s comments at a Sunday news that because Trump is “not the sitting President … security is limited to the areas the Secret Service deems possible.”

Gauger called the comment “flippant.”

“Trump is our resident, and we should provide whatever is needed to protect him — even when he’s on his golf course,” he said.

Asked for comment, Bradshaw’s campaign told Florida Politics that the Secret Service, not the PBSO, decides the level of protective services a former President gets and that the Sheriff’s Office supports those efforts. Under Bradshaw’s leadership, the campaign added, the PBSO has provided such support to such a high degree of quality that the Acting Director of the Secret Service, Ronald Rowe, gave it a letter of appreciation last month.

“Mr. Gauger is clueless and yet again proving why he is unfit to be Sheriff. … When the incident started, Sheriff Bradshaw deployed all necessary resources beyond expectations, was personally involved in the oversight of the investigation, and the results were a successful outcome and apprehension,” Bradshaw’s campaign said.

“The Sheriff is proud of the work done by all members of his office and by the other law enforcement officers involved. President Trump has also commended them all, (and) Mr. Gauger should be ashamed of his comments and behavior for trying to politicize this assassination attempt for his own political gain and for using this opportunity to twist a successful outcome with negative and divisive criticisms.”

Bradshaw and Gauger won their respective Primaries last month, after which both losing candidates from either side of the aisle endorsed Bradshaw.

The longest-serving Sheriff in Palm Beach history, Bradshaw is seeking his sixth term leading the PBSO, its 4,300 employees, and its 1,500 volunteers. Polling before the Sunday assassination attempt suggested he was on track to win again comfortably.

It’s Gauger’s first run at elected office. He carries support from the Palm Beach County Fraternal Order of Police.

The General Election is on Nov. 5.