The acting director of the Secret Service told former President Donald Trump that significant additional security arrangements and planning would be needed if he wanted to continue safely playing golf, according to three people with knowledge of their conversation.

The agency’s acting director, Ronald L. Rowe Jr., made the recommendation at a meeting with Trump on Monday afternoon in the former president’s office at Mar-a-Lago, his private club and home in Palm Beach, Florida.

The meeting came just 24 hours after a second apparent assassination attempt on the former president in the span of just two months. And it also comes at a time when, behind the scenes, tensions between the Trump campaign and the Secret Service have been escalating.

Trump asked Rowe whether it was safe for him to keep playing golf, one of the people said. Rowe discussed the difficulties of securing sprawling golf courses near public roads and said that some of Trump’s courses were easier to protect than others, one of the people said.

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It is unclear what changes Trump will make to his golf schedule after the meeting, and some people in Trump’s orbit are frustrated at any notion he might have to cut back on his weekly activity. They questioned why President Joe Biden was able to visit open beaches but Trump should have to restrict his golf, especially given that other former presidents regularly play the sport.

Trump and Biden Do Not Receive Same Level of Security

However, Trump and Biden do not receive the same level of security. One of them is a sitting president, and one is a former president. Trump’s level of Secret Service protection reduced after he left the White House. But since the first attempt on Trump’s life in July in Butler, Pennsylvania, both Republican and Democratic lawmakers have raised concerns about the former president’s protection, given the current intensity of threats. Biden has called on the Secret Service to provide whatever additional resources are required to keep Trump safe.

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Golf remains more than a pastime for Trump — it’s a major part of his identity as well as a way of socializing and a release valve as he faces a presidential campaign and ongoing legal woes.

On Sunday, a suspected gunman, Ryan W. Routh, allegedly hid for 12 hours near the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, the FBI has said. After a Secret Service agent spotted Routh poking the barrel of a gun through bushes on the course’s perimeter, that agent opened fire, leading Routh to run to his car, officials have said.

Routh left behind a semiautomatic rifle, a scope, two backpacks and a Go-Pro camera, which suggested he intended to film an intended shooting, officials said. Police pulled him over on the side of the Interstate 95 about 45 minutes after a witness, who saw him fleeing, photographed his license plate.

Difficult to Secure Sprawling Golf Course

In their meeting Monday, Rowe told Trump that it was difficult to secure his sprawling golf courses because they have so much open space, one of the people briefed on the meeting said.

The courses are close to public roads, and the fact that photographers, using long-range lenses, can often capture Trump on his greens and fairways suggest that a skilled shooter might be able to get a clear line of sight on him. Trump raised some of these concerns himself in the meeting with Rowe, one of the people with knowledge of the meeting said.

Rowe told Trump that the Secret Service views the golf course at Joint Base Andrews as easier to secure than some of his courses, because it’s a military course, two of the people said. Barack Obama frequently played there during his presidency.

Given Trump’s campaign schedule, which is expected to be busier as the November election draws near, it is unclear how much golf he will be able to play in the final 49 days, an adviser said.

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A campaign spokesperson, Danielle Alvarez, declined to comment on Monday’s private briefing. She noted Trump’s Sunday post on social media, in which he praised the Secret Service and law enforcement.

“It was certainly an interesting day!” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social, adding in all-caps, “The job done was absolutely outstanding.”

In a private conversation shortly after the assailant disrupted his game, Trump told Sen. Lindsey Graham that his Secret Service team had been “awesome,” Graham, R-S.C., later recalled.

But while Trump has repeatedly praised the agents on his personal detail since the first assassination attempt in July, his team has complained that the agency has not provided the former president with the level of resources the campaign has requested.

A spokesperson for the Secret Service said that Rowe declined to comment on private conversations involving someone the agency protects.

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This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Jonathan Swan, Maggie Haberman and Kate Kelly/Saul Martinez
c. 2024 The New York Times Company