An Independent Review of the attempted Assassination of Donald Trump on July 13, 2015, via a Secret Service Office of Experts: Thomas Matthew Crooks
As the Secret Service continues to face questions about the security failures that preceded the assassination attempt on Donald Trump, the agency says there have been times when it did not provide full federal resources to the former president’s campaign.
“This may include utilizing state or local partners to provide specialized functions or otherwise identifying alternatives to reduce public exposure of a protectee,” Guglielmi added.
The agency provided the statement in response to an inquiry from NPR about past security requests from the Trump campaign. Former presidents receive Secret Service protection for life, unless they decline it.
The new acknowledgment from the Secret Service comes as investigators continue to piece together a picture of the gunman, Thomas Matthew Crooks, and his actions in the days and weeks leading up to the attack. A source familiar with the matter who was not authorized to speak publicly told NPR on Sunday that Crooks flew a drone over the rally site hours before the event. The source said the drone was on a flight path.
Cheatle was subpoenaed by the House Oversight Committee after the shooting at the western Pennsylvania rally. It is the first time in her 29-year Secret Service career that she has been called testify before Congress.
Committee member Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., told NPR he has “a whole lot of questions” about the attempted assassination and believes Cheatle should be fired.
The matter is the subject of an FBI investigation as well as an independent review that the president commissioned, so I can’t speak to what happened on Saturday.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayrokas has named a panel of experts to conduct an independent review of the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump.
“We are committed to getting to the bottom of what happened on July 13, and I am grateful to the distinguished members of this independent review who will bring decades of expertise in law enforcement and security operations to this important investigation,” Mayorkas said, adding: “This independent review will examine what happened and provide actionable recommendations to ensure they carry out their no-fail mission most effectively and to prevent something like this from ever happening again.”
Why Shooting a White House Agent Isn’t The Best Idea: The Homeland Security Committee Continues to Investigate the Case
The person thinks that it is human error more than it is perimeter. imeter simply ignores the fact that there was not enough resources to stop that from happening.
Any oversight will likely include the various points at which mistakes were made in planning security for the rally. William Basham, a former Secret Service director, said before such events, an advance agent for the Secret Service is charged with standing at that podium where the president was standing and get a full 360-degree view of what needs to be covered. It was decided that it was not a good idea to shoot the shot from the roof.
He said that there was a breakdown in communications. It should have been done differently, someone should have gone on that roof. And I just don’t think there’s a whole lot of mystery about what happened here.”
The review is in addition to congressional probes also being led by the Democratic-led Homeland Security panel and their Republican-led counterpart in the House. A group of people from the Homeland Security panel will visit the location of the shooting in person and discuss their findings after the tour.
Additional testimony from Cheatle and top FBI and Homeland Security officials have also been called for by the chairman of the panel, Tennessee Republican Mark Green. Cheatle hasn’t yet accepted the invitation.
Director Cheatle should not hold her position due to the fact that the American people are still searching for answers. Since July 13th the Committee has been working hard to get answers.
Previously, Guglielmi, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, and, according to reports, Cheatle rejected claims the agency had denied Trump team requests for additional security.
The agency is fully cooperating with congressional oversight, the FBI and conducting its own internal review according to Cheatle. She was not able to answer most questions about the findings of her investigators because of the nature of their work.
The concerns are expected to be raised many times in the hearing that could last much of the day. It follows a growing list of investigations into the shooting and the Secret Service.
The New Counterniper Request for the 2023 South Carolina Rally in Bronx County, N.Y., and New York
The denied requests included an event in Michigan and Bronx County, N.Y., in 2023, as well as one in New York in May of this year. There was a request from the Secret Service to not have counterniper teams available for the July 23, 2023 rally in South Carolina.