(PatriotWise.com) — The US Secret Service is facing widespread criticism over how a gunman was able to access a rooftop about 400 feet from former President Donald Trump during his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, last weekend.
Donald Trump was shot in the ear and one rallygoer was killed when 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire from his rooftop location in what the FBI classified as an assassination attempt.
Witnesses told news outlets following the shooting that they alerted law enforcement to a man crawling into position on the roof carrying a semi-automatic rifle.
Secret Service counter-assault snipers positioned near Trump fired back at Crooks, killing him.
In his Oval Office address on Sunday evening, President Biden said he had directed an “independent review” of the incident to assess what happened.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson vowed that there would be a “full investigation” of the attempted assassination and the Secret Service’s actions.
House Intelligence Committee Chair Mike Turner suggested on CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday morning that the security failure was part of a broader problem in the Secret Service and that Congress had the responsibility to investigate.
Bill Gage, a former Secret Service agent, who spent more than six years as a counter-assault sniper, told Fox News that the agency was “stretched too thin” due to a lack of money and manpower necessary to deal with its new responsibilities.
Gage suggested that the US Secret Service should ideally have 30 counter-assault sniper teams and 500 protective agents but said the agency simply did not have the resources to cover that.
House Homeland Security Committee Chair Mark Green spoke with Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle on Sunday afternoon and pressed her on what could have led to the security failures at the Butler rally. According to a source on the committee, Cheatle promised to provide the committee with the documents it requested as quickly as possible.
Chairman Green also sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas asking for information on the Secret Service’s security plans and communications by July 19. He also requested a briefing by Monday, July 22.
After months of rebuffing requests, the Biden administration on Monday finally extended Secret Service protection to third-party presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
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