The Secret Service agent that President Donald Trump has tapped to lead the agency is well recognized as the individual who rushed on stage to cover Trump immediately after the assassination attempt at the Butler, Pennsylvania rally last summer.
Trump announced his choice for Sean Curran to serve as the new director of the Secret Service. “Sean is a Great Patriot, who has protected my family over the past few years, and that is why I trust him to lead the Brave Men and Women of the United States Secret Service,” the president wrote in a Truth Social post.
Trump attributed Curran’s eligibility to his 23 years in the Secret Service and his work as assistant special agent in charge of the Presidential Protective Division during his first term, where he had “direct oversight and responsibility of multiple protectees, and enhanced security plans for my residences.”
“Sean has distinguished himself as a brilliant leader, who is capable of directing and leading operational security plans for some of the most complex Special Security Events in the History of our Country, and the World,” Trump added. “He proved his fearless courage when he risked his own life to help save mine from an assassin’s bullet in Butler, Pennsylvania.”
“I have complete and total confidence in Sean to make the United States Secret Service stronger than ever before,” Trump wrote.
The New York Post notes “Curran was one of several agents who piled on top of Trump last July after a gunman opened fire on the then-presumptive Republican nominee during a campaign rally in Butler, Pa. He is standing directly to Trump’s left, wearing dark sunglasses, in the iconic photograph of the bloodied 45th president raising his fist in the air under the American flag just moments after the would-be assassin’s bullet ripped through his ear.”
During the time of Trump’s assassination attempt, the Secret Service came under intense scrutiny for the numerous security failures that resulted in the near-assassination. Among obvious failures included not covering the roof from which Thomas Matthew Crooks was able to settle with a rifle and have a clear shot at Trump and the crowd.
Former Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned in late July following the Butler shooting and was replaced by Acting Director Ronald Rowe.