Tim McCarthy, a retired Secret Service agent who took a bullet for former President Ronald Reagan during an assassination attempt in 1981, praised security’s response after an armed man stormed the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner, where President Donald Trump was seated on Saturday night.

After the armed man was taken down during the incident at the Hilton Washington – the same hotel where the attempted assassination against Reagan took place decades prior – security at the event was widely criticized on social media.

During a Sunday appearance on NewsNation, however, McCarthy urged critics to “ratchet down the rhetoric,” insisting that the Secret Service and local law enforcement had actually done “a hell of a good job” protecting the president.

“I think for the most part, the Secret Service got it right, and as you know, I was critical of what happened in Butler, in West Palm Beach, but I’m hardly critical about it now,” he said. “This guy really didn’t get too far. He ran through the metal detectors – he’s not the first one to do it – exchanged gunfire with agents and uniformed division officers. He wasn’t even on the same floor, ultimately, as the president. He was on several floors below – though actually below, the ballroom is two floors high – and was tackled by an agent, never got to the stairs to go down.”

McCarthy continued:

Now, security is in layers, and if he’d gotten to the bottom of the stairs, he would’ve been met with more resistance. If he’d gotten to the doors of the ballroom, more resistance, and if he walked in the door, as you know, he was facing several counter-assault teams, MPD SWAT teams, the president’s already evacuated to a safe room, possibly already upstairs in the limo and in the garage that was built, where the old assassination attempt was, and back at the White House. So from what I can tell right now talking to my colleagues, it was handled pretty well. You never want something like this to happen. Security was tested, security responded, and at this point it did pretty well. Tackled him before he even got to the stairs to even get close to coming down by the president. So so far, based on what I know, I’m pretty satisfied with what the Secret Service did on this occasion.

He added, “The response by the agents that took place appeared to be very good, but they’ll take a look at the advance itself. Is there anything further that could’ve been done? And I’ve heard talk, you know, that you should’ve shut the hotel down. Well, try finding a hotel with a ballroom if you’re gonna shut down the hotel, because you’re not gonna find one. No one’s gonna want to do that.”

“So from what I can see so far, the security was good. There was, at least- you always try to have three layers of security. In this case, I think there was even more,” McCarthy concluded. “So I think we need to ratchet down the rhetoric just a little bit and give the Secret Service at the moment quite a bit of credit for doing a hell of a good job, along with their partners.”

Security at the hotel was criticized by many, including the suspect in the incident, Cole Tomas Allen, who reportedly wrote in his manifesto that there was “no damn security” for the event.

“What the hell is the Secret Service doing?” he questioned. “Like, I expected security cameras at every bend, bugged hotel rooms, armed agents every 10 feet, metal detectors out the wazoo.”

Claiming there was “No damn security. Not in transport. Not in the hotel. Not in the event,” Allen reportedly concluded, “This level of incompetence is insane… And I very sincerely hope it’s corrected by the time this country gets actually competent leadership again.”

In a statement to Fox News on Sunday, a senior White House official said, “President Trump and the White House are standing by the leadership of Secret Service, and President Trump has said he personally thinks they did an excellent job neutralizing the shooter and moving the President, First Lady, Vice President, and cabinet to safety.”

“Nevertheless, Chief of Staff Susie Wiles is convening a meeting early this week with the White House operations team, USSS, and DHS leadership to discuss protocol and practices for major events involving POTUS,” the statement continued. “The meeting will discuss the processes and procedures that worked to stop Saturday’s attempt, while exploring additional options to ensure all relevant components are doing everything possible to secure the many major events planned for President Trump in the months ahead as he gears up to celebrate America 250.”

Watch above via NewsNation.

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