The Secret Service is facing intense scrutiny after a would-be assassin managed to graze former President Donald Trump with a bullet this weekend, reviving a host of questions about how the government protects top officials.
The House’s top investigator has already announced a hearing to demand an accounting of how the shooter got within range of Mr. Trump and was able to fire multiple rounds before being “neutralized.”
Officials in Washington praised agents for hustling Mr. Trump off stage and taking out the shooter, but also expressed concern about the lapses that let him get off multiple rounds.
Agents have also become the butt of internet jokes after one of them was caught on video appearing to struggle to reholster her handgun while protecting Mr. Trump’s vehicle. Another fiddled with her sunglasses.
One eyewitness told the BBC that they spotted the person they now believe to be the shooter as he was crawling atop a roof. They tried to alert law enforcement ahead of time.
“There are many questions and Americans demand answers. I have already contacted the Secret Service for a briefing and am also calling on Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle to appear for a hearing,” said Rep. James Comer, Kentucky Republican and chairman of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee.
Mr. Trump is the first person under Secret Service protection known to have been shot by an assailant since President Ronald Reagan was shot in 1981. But the agency has faced years of embarrassing black eyes, including agents hiring prostitutes while preparing for a presidential visit in Colombia in 2012 and, two years later, allowing an intruder into the White House, where he overpowered an agent and ran free on the main floor before being apprehended.
Top lawmakers on Capitol Hill labeled Saturday’s attack a “security failure” and said the public must find out what went wrong.
“No assassination attempt has come so close to taking the life of a president or presidential candidate since President Reagan was shot in 1981,” said Rep. Mark Green, Tennessee Republican and chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee. “Had the bullet’s trajectory been slightly different, the assassination attempt on President Trump might have succeeded.”
Among the issues raised by lawmakers is how a shooter was able to get to an elevated position with a firing lane to the former president on stage.
Lawmakers also pointed to news reports that the Trump campaign had sought enhanced protection from the Secret Service in recent weeks but was rebuffed.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, whose department oversees the Secret Service, is facing the brunt of questions.
On Saturday he issued a statement saying he and Ms. Cheatle personally briefed President Biden about the attack, and promised vigilance.
“We are engaged with President Biden, former President Trump, and their campaigns, and are taking every possible measure to ensure their safety and security,” Mr. Mayorkas said. “Maintaining the security of the Presidential candidates and their campaign events is one of our Department’s most vital priorities.”
Mr. Trump gained Secret Service protection in late 2015 during his first presidential campaign. He has had it since, including his time in the White House, then as a former president and now as the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.
Who gets protection is a thorny issue that involved balancing agency resources, the level of threats and a bit of politics. Having protection can elevate a candidate’s stature, lending their campaign more credibility.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is running as a third-party candidate in this year’s presidential election, had been denied a protective detail by the Biden administration.
In the wake of Saturday’s assassination attempt two members of Congress announced plans to write legislation to give Mr. Kennedy protection, as well as enhance the protection for Mr. Trump and Mr. Biden.
Attorney General Merrick Garland labeled Saturday’s assassination attempt an “attack on our democracy,” harnessing the same label he has used for mob that invaded the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, sending lawmakers fleeing and disrupting the Electoral College count.
Authorities have identified the shooter as Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania. He managed to send multiple rounds toward the president, killing one rally-goer and critically wounding two others, before being shot and killed.
Mr. Trump emerged bloodied by a wound on his face. He said his right ear was grazed by a bullet.
America First Legal, an outfit of former senior officials from the Trump administration, said Saturday that it had filed an open-records request to determine if the Homeland Security Department rebuffed requests for enhanced Secret Service protection for Mr. Trump.
Meanwhile, Rep. Bennie G. Thompson of Mississippi, the senior Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee, came under scrutiny for legislation he wrote earlier this year that could have stripped Mr. Trump of Secret Service protection if he ends up in prison.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, who survived a gunman’s assassination attempt, said Mr. Thompson’s bill is a symptom of anti-Trump hysteria.
“I mean, look, there’s legislation right now filed by Democrats from months and months ago to take away Donald Trump’s Secret Service protection,” the Louisiana Republican told Fox News. “That’s a very specific targeted action because they don’t like the person.”
Mr. Thompson, in introducing the legislation, said he was worried that a Secret Service protective detail could lead to accommodations for a former president in prison. He said the bill would have clarified who had custody of Mr. Trump if he did end up behind bars.
This weekend he said his legislation had nothing to do with the assassination attempt.
“My bill would not have affected the Secret Service’s presence during this tragic event. It aims to clarify lines of authority when a protectee is sentenced to prison and is in the custody of another law enforcement agency. That does not apply to the former President,” Mr. Thompson said.
The bill has seen no action in the GOP-controlled House.
A Manhattan jury in May convicted Mr. Trump on 34 counts of falsifying business records. His sentencing has been postponed until Sept. 18.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
• Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.