Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) laid blame for the apparent assassination attempt against Donald Trump on Homeland Security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
Questions have been raised about security protocols at the July 13 rally in Bethel, Pennsylvania, where 20-year-old Thomas Crooks fired gunshots at the former president before a sniper shot the gunman dead. Hawley sent a letter Friday to Mayorkas seeking answers.
"Whistleblowers tell me that MOST of Trump’s security detail working the event last Saturday were not even Secret Service," Hawley wrote on X. "DHS assigned unprepared and inexperienced personnel."
Secret Service veterans and other security experts have questioned how the gunman was able to access the rooftop from which he fired the gunshots that struck Trump in the right ear, killed one spectator and critically wounded two others, and they have also wondered why the former president's security detail allowed him to rise up from the stage before they hustled him off to safety.
The agency has denied claims that requests by the Trump team for additional security staffing had been denied ahead of the event, although Secret Service agents reportedly told a former officer they lacked "resources" to keep the suspect from getting so close to the former president.
Secret Service director Kimberly Cheatle issued a statement Monday saying that changes had been made to Trump's detail ahead of the start of this week's Republican National Convention but insisted she was "confident" in the overall plan to keep the GOP nominee safe at his rally.
Simultaneous investigations of the shooting have been launched by the FBI, Congress and the Homeland Security Department, but Hawley said in his letter to Mayorkas that whistleblowers have already come forward to provide some insight into lapses that may have allowed the gunman to come within inches of killing the former president and current Republican nominee.
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“Whistleblowers who have direct knowledge of the event have approached my office," Hawley said in the letter. "According to the allegations, the July 13 rally was considered to be a loose' security event. For example, detection canines were not used to monitor entry and detect threats in the usual manner. Individuals without proper designations were able to gain access to backstage areas. Department personnel did not appropriately police the security buffer around the podium and were also not stationed at regular intervals around the event's security perimeter."
"In addition, whistleblower allegations suggest the majority of DHS officials were not in fact USSS agents but instead drawn from the department's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI)," the senator added. “This is especially concerning given that HSI agents were unfamiliar with standard protocols typically used at these types of events, according to the allegations.”
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