Hearing on Trump assassination attempts says Pennsylvania failure was by Secret Service
Members of a bipartisan House task force investigating the Trump assassination attempts emphasized during their first hearing that the Secret Service, not local authorities, was responsible for failures in planning and communications that led to a gunman being able to open fire on former President Donald Trump in Pennsylvania
WASHINGTON (AP) — Members of a bipartisan House task force investigating the Trump assassination attempts emphasized during their first hearing Thursday that the Secret Service, not local authorities, was responsible for the failures in planning and communications that led to a gunman being able to open fire on former President Donald Trump in Pennsylvania.
Lawmakers repeatedly questioned why the agency tasked with protecting the country's top leaders didn't do a better job communicating with local authorities during the July 13 rally, particularly when it came to securing the building that was widely agreed to be a security threat but that ultimately was left so unprotected that gunman Thomas Michael Crooks was able to climb up and open fire on Trump.
“In the days leading up to the rally, it was not a single mistake that allowed Crooks to outmaneuver one of our country’s most elite group of security professionals. There were security failures on multiple fronts,” said the Republican co-chair of the committee, Rep. Mike Kelly from Pennsylvania.
“The communication between the Secret Service and local and state partners was disjointed and unclear,” said Rep. Jason Crow, the ranking Democrat on the panel, who also praised the local law enforcement.
