In a Senate briefing today, Secret Service (SS) provided a lackluster response to Senate inquiries on the Saturday assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump during a Butler, Pennsylvania rally.
On Sunday, Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson penned a letter to United States Attorney General Merrick Garland, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, and FBI Director Christopher Wray requesting a copy of the Saturday rally's security plan, all records between Secret Service, the FBI, state, and local law enforcement relating to the rally, along with a detailed description of security measures implemented.
After fielding four questions from senators today, Secret Service revealed that the gunman was initially spotted at 5:51 p.m. and confirmed to be a threat within two minutes. However, despite the confirmed threat, Secret Service allowed Trump to walk on stage for his speech at 6 p.m.
According to a timeline composed by The New York Times, Trump was shot shortly after 6:11 p.m.
The shooter also visited the Butler rally site several days prior to scope the location out, according to Punchbowl News' Andrew Desiderio. NEWS — Senate briefing on Trump rally shooting just concluded. Top lines, per 2 senators on the call:
—The shooter visited the rally site a few days in advance to scope it out
—62 mins elapsed between the time the shooter was photographed as being suspicious and when he fired…
— Andrew Desiderio (@AndrewDesiderio) July 17, 2024
Wray said there was "no known foreign nexus," though also no "established motive" for the shooter, Desiderio reported.
Utah Sen. Mike Lee gave a breakdown of the Senate briefing on his X account and called for Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle's immediate resignation.
"Today's (mostly) information-free briefing only confirmed that," Lee wrote. "What little information she gave us was at once deeply troubling and glaringly incomplete." At least three of us — Senator Blackburn, Senator Cruz, and me — had sought recognition to ask questions and were in the cue when they arbitrarily cut the call short.
— Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee) July 17, 2024
Three Senators, including Lee, Mississippi Sen. Marsha Blackburn, and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, were not allowed recognition to field their own questions to Cheatle.
Lee said Secret Service agreed to a Senate briefing, adding that federal agencies typically strive for transparency when they agree to meet with Senators.
"Never — in my 13 years in the Senate — have I seen a briefing end after answering only four questions," Lee said, adding three out of the four questions fielded by Cheatle were from Democratic senators. "So why hold the briefing if they weren’t going to tell us anything?" If I’m not mistaken, three of the four questions allowed were asked by Democrats.
— Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee) July 17, 2024
The Utah senator went on to criticize scant information provided Secret Service.
"Why the HELL did Secret Service let Trump walk on stage before resolving the potential threat that they had by then identified?" Lee asked. "How many requests that Secret Service assign additional agents to the Trump campaign have been ignored or rejected over the last two years?"
Lee then questioned why no Secret Service agents were positioned on the shooter's roof.
"Would Secret Service ever let Joe Biden walk on stage before resolving a specific, known security threat?" Lee asked. "What do these Secret Service failures say to America’s foreign adversaries? And what kinds of horrible things will they encourage?"
Lee then proposed more assassination attempts could come if the perception of presidential security appeared penetrable.
The Utah senator's post thread continued:Why isn’t President Biden taking action against his own Secret Service Director and Homeland Security Secretary? If this incident doesn’t warrant firing some people, what does? Were they trying to half-ass this? I’m not even sure this qualifies as a half-assed effort. Is there such thing as quarter-assing? Why have we heard so little from Secretary Mayorkas? Shouldn’t he be anxious to call out and address failures within his own department? As for President Biden, if only for purely political reasons, why shouldn’t he be expressing outrage over what happened? Biden should be mortifiedly embarrassed that his own administration failed adequately to protect his opponent—something they had a legal obligation to do.
"If anything, Biden — as the incumbent president — should err on the side of devoting too many resources to the task of protecting his political opponent," Lee's thread concluded. "Failing to provide adequate resources to guarantee the security of his political opponent does not inspire confidence — in Biden, in his administration, or in America."
