Department of Homeland Security ramps up investigation into Secret Service’s flaws at Trump rally
WASHINGTON - The security decisions made by the Secret Service before and during former President Donald Trump’s rally in Pennsylvania will be under intense scrutiny by the Department of Homeland Security.
House Homeland Security Chair Mark Green has invited Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and FBI Director Christopher Wray to testify on July 23 after new video emerged showing how a metal fence prevented law enforcement from reaching the deceased shooter.
Video posted to X shows that state police officers and Secret Service were stopped by a metal fence when trying to reach the building where Crooks had shot the former president. Officers just stood waiting while a police vehicle rammed into the fence, attempting to create an opening.
"The seriousness of this security failure and chilling moment in our nation’s history cannot be understated," Green wrote. "It is imperative that we partner to understand what went wrong and how Congress can work with the departments and agencies to ensure this never happens again."
Former president Trump’s ear was clipped by a bullet when gunman Thomas Crooks opened fire at the July 13 campaign event in Butler, Penn. Corey Comperatore, 50, a former chief of the Buffalo Township Volunteer Fire Company, was killed in the shooting. Two others were injured.
Butler resident Ryan Knight said he spotted the suspected shooter atop the American Glass Research building.
"I walked over about 20 minutes before the shooting happened to stand along the fence line where Trump was. As I was doing that, I was right beside the AGR building, which had the shooter on it," Knight said. "When I was sitting there, a guy said, ‘Oh God, he had a gun.’ When I looked up, there was a guy on top of the building with an M16 with a blanket, pointing at the president. He starts shooting. Four to five shots rang out. I throw the guy I’m with to the ground. I jump to the ground, I look up, and I see his head get split up from the shot from the Secret Service."
Additional witnesses have told reporters that they saw a person who fit the description of the alleged shooter carrying a rifle outside the security cordon of the rally before the shooting.
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Crooks managed to climb on top of a building about 410 feet away from the rally stage with an AR-15-style gun completely undetected by security. Cops were reportedly stationed inside the building.
"My main thought is why wasn’t the Secret Service on top of AGR?" Knight asked. "That’s a very big vantage point to shoot at the president. How did that get missed?"
Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle said Tuesday that the sloped roof used by the shooter had "safety factor" considerations and that is why agents were not positioned on top of the building but rather inside of it. Secret Service counter-assault snipers were placed on a rooftop behind the stage, posing the same slanted threat.
In an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity, Donald Trump Jr. called the concerns of the sloped roof "the dumbest excuse" and stated that the Secret Service agents he knows aren’t "worried about a five-degree pitch on a sloped roof."
"If you had out an agent on the roof as opposed to in the building, it goes from a very sophisticated attack to a very foolish attack," said Seamus Hughes, a researcher at the National Counterterrorism Innovation, Technology, and Education Center at the University of Nebraska Omaha. "The security failures by law enforcement that day helped him look a lot more sophisticated than he normally would."
Increased Secret Service security around the former president was supposed to be active in the weeks leading up to the assassination attempt after U.S. officials obtained intelligence that there may be an Iranian plot against him.
"Saturday’s assassination attempt on President Trump’s life was either intentional or the result of gross incompetence by the United States Secret Service. Under Cheatle’s failed leadership, the United States Secret Service has prioritized woke DEI policies over the core responsibilities of the Secret Service, including protecting our nation’s leaders," said Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert.
The House and Senate are set to receive briefings from the Justice Department, U.S. Secret Service and FBI officials over the phone this afternoon.
"The American people deserve to know the truth and we will ensure accountability," said House Speaker Mike Johnson.