Editor’s note: This is a developing story and will be updated throughout the day.
A gunman tried to kill former President Donald Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday, and the Secret Service is under increasing pressure to explain what went wrong in the hours and minutes before the shooter opened fire.
One attendee was killed and two others were seriously wounded before a sniper shot 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks on the roof of a building about 400 feet from the rally stage. .
“The Secret Service is working with all relevant federal, state and local agencies to understand what happened, how it happened, and how we can prevent something like this from happening again,” the Secret Service director said. Kimberly Chittle said in a statement on Monday.
Chettle said despite Saturday’s shooting, the Secret Service has made no substantial changes to security plans for the Republican National Convention, which opens on Monday.
“I am confident in the security plan developed by our Secret Service Republican National Committee coordinator and our partners, which we reviewed and strengthened following Saturday’s shooting,” Chittle said.
U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle speaks during a news conference at the Secret Service Chicago Field Office ahead of the 2024 Democratic and Republican National Conventions in Chicago, Illinois, June 4, 2024 .
Kamil Krzaczynski | AFP | Getty Images
On Sunday, Secret Service Republican National Committee coordinator Audrey Gibson-Cicchino also backed the convention’s security plan, which she said was developed over 18 months and given the highest level of security.
She added that no firearms would be allowed at the conference venue or within the wider Secret Service security perimeter.
However, Wisconsin is an open-carry state, meaning guns are allowed, just blocks from the Republican National Committee and outside a Secret Service perimeter.
The Secret Service and other law enforcement agencies have been questioned about potential security breaches that may have led to Saturday’s shooting.
Republican candidate Donald Trump faces while surrounded by Secret Service agents during a campaign event at Butler Farm Show Inc. in Butler, Pa., on July 13, 2024. Covered in blood, he was taken off the stage.
Rebecca Drock | AFP | Getty Images
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., on Saturday asked Cheatle to testify at a congressional hearing on Monday, July 22.
“There are many questions and Americans need answers,” Cuomo said in a statement. Saturday night statementjust hours after the shooting.
Cuomo was followed by House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green, R-Tenn., who said he would conduct his own investigation into how the Secret Service and the Department of Homeland Security coordinate security procedures.
“The gravity of this security failure and chilling moment in our nation’s history cannot be underestimated,” Greene wrote in a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Sunday.
Greene’s letter also reiterated a rumor that the Department of Homeland Security rejected Trump’s request for additional security resources in the weeks leading up to Saturday’s rally. Both the Secret Service and Mayorkas strongly deny this claim.
“That’s obviously a false statement,” Mayorkas told ABC’s “Good Morning America” on Monday. “We’ve had increased security for the former president since at least June. We haven’t closed in yet.” to any denied requests for additional security measures.”
The FBI is still conducting postmortems of Trump rallies. On Sunday, FBI officials said that so far they believe the shooter acted alone but have not determined a motive.
President Biden has also directed an independent review in cooperation with the FBI’s criminal investigation.
“We have committed the full force of the FBI to this investigation,” FBI Director Christopher Wray told reporters on Sunday. “The American people can rest assured that we will spare no effort to investigate what exactly happened.”
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