The Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general is investigating the Secret Service after the agency failed to prevent an assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday, according to a notice on its website.
The notice stated the Office of Inspector General was evaluating the Secret Service’s process for securing former President Trump’s July 13, 2024, campaign event.
The notice was not conspicuously posted on the website, but listed in “ongoing projects” with the word “new” next to it.
There was no formal announcement of the investigation or details on when it began. President Joe Biden has also ordered a review of the security measures at the rally.
Congress is also investigating the security lapses that allowed 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks to climb onto the roof of a building used by local law enforcement and the Secret Service as a staging and lookout point. Crooks, armed with an AR-style rifle, allegedly fired eight bullets at Trump while he spoke on a stage 135 meters away.
One of the bullets ripped through the former president’s ear before he got down for cover and was blanketed by members of his personal Secret Service detail before being taken off stage.
Before Trump was ushered off, he stopped, raised his fist and yelled, “Fight! Fight! Fight!” in an instantly iconic moment of courage and defiance while bleeding from his ear.
A Secret Service counter-sniper reportedly killed Crooks after he opened fire, but many questions remain about how Crooks managed to climb onto the roof despite being detected by local law enforcement, reported as a suspicious person to a Secret Service command center, and even confronted by local officers before shooting at Trump.
Secret Service Director Kim Cheatle has said the “buck stops with me,” but has refused to resign amid calls from Republicans to do so.
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