Republican officials said the Secret Service had agreed to move a Milwaukee park into the security zone, but the agency said no final decision had been made.
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Kimberly A. Cheatle, director of the U.S. Secret Service, was asked by the Republican National Committee to personally intervene to move the protest zone at the national convention in Milwaukee.
The U.S. Secret Service, after weeks of pressure from Republican officials, has agreed to make a Milwaukee park near the Republican National Convention off limits to protesters who would have been in shouting distance of delegates and other convention-goers, convention officials said Thursday.
The Secret Service disputed the statement, saying no final decision had been made, but in the war of words between the Republican National Committee and the service, the R.N.C. seemed to be claiming victory in its fight to wall off Pere Marquette Park from protesters.
“We applaud Secret Service leadership for including Pere Marquette Park in the security perimeter,” said Danielle Alvarez, a senior adviser to the campaign of former President Donald J. Trump. She said party leaders “implore local officials to expedite the permit application” and “choose a different location for the First Amendment Zone.”
Todd R. Steggerda, a lawyer for the Republican National Committee, last month raised the specter of “an increased and untenable risk of violence” when he demanded that the Secret Service’s director, Kimberly A. Cheatle, personally intervene to move the so-called First Amendment Zone.
The service had responded that, with its decades of experience, its officers would be able to keep convention-goers safe, even if demonstrators were allowed to gather in Pere Marquette Park, on the bank of the Milwaukee River, about a quarter-mile from the arena hosting the convention.
On Thursday, Republican officials said the park had been pulled into the security zone surrounding the Fiserve Forum, where the main convention functions would take place.
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Source: nytimes.com
