The day after the White House kicked off celebrations for America’s 250th birthday with a UFC fight on the South Lawn, FBI Director Kash Patel announced that law enforcement had thwarted a plot to attack the event using drones and snipers to target Trump and others.
Now, two weeks later, federal and local law enforcement are tasked with securing a complex July Fourth holiday in the nation’s capital, details for which are still being ironed out, with logistical headaches spreading across agencies, multiple officials told CNN.
Three days before the holiday, planners sent out a schedule of the events, including planned fly-overs every hour starting in the afternoon, and an evening of programs that start in the late afternoon and end in a speech from Trump and a fireworks show. The timing for both has been shifted around in recent days.
Earlier this week, the lack of a clear schedule for the DC celebration caused headaches for some of the officials managing Trump’s security as they tried to nail down details to form a comprehensive plan.
Without a firm plan for when each event will be held, details about how to deploy security were briefly in limbo, but the infrastructure allows for flexibility in last-minute changes, sources said.
