The Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general is investigating the Secret Service’s handling of the security at Donald Trump’s rally in Pennsylvania where a would-be assassin attempted to kill the former president on Saturday.
A brief notice on the website of the DHS Office of Inspector General on Wednesday said the objective of the probe is to: “Evaluate the United States Secret Service’s (Secret Service) process for securing former President Trump’s July 13, 2024 campaign event.”
The investigation comes after President Joe Biden separately called for an “independent review of the national security” at the Trump rally where a gunman fired towards the stage, wounding the former president and others.
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It’s not yet clear when the new investigation began, with the probe included on a broader list of “ongoing projects” on the site of the inspector general’s office.
It’s the latest in a series of efforts to find answers about how the shooter was able to get onto a roof so close to Trump and open fire despite the vantage point seemingly being such an obvious risk that authorities had reportedly flagged it as a potential threat in the days before the rally.
One rally attendee died trying to protect his family during the attack, while another two attendees were critically injured. Trump says a bullet “pierced” the upper right part of his ear and had blood trickling down his face as Secret Service agents eventually whisked him to safety.
The gunman, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, was killed by Secret Service counter-snipers. An ongoing FBI investigation into the incident has yet to identify a potential motive, with investigators scouring Crooks’ home, vehicle, and electronic devices for clues.
How Crooks was able to mount his attack at all remains an equally baffling mystery, especially given that the Secret Service had reportedly beefed up its security of the former president in light of an unrelated Iranian plot to kill Trump. Questions have been raised as to why the building from which Crooks fired was not properly secured, with reports claiming that a group of snipers was inside the building—but not on the roof—on the day of the attack.
A Secret Service spokesperson has also confirmed that the federal agency did not sweep the building before the rally, instead relying on local law enforcement to secure the structure. Other reports claim Crooks was spotted by rally attendees who warned authorities before he opened fire, and that a member of local law enforcement even confronted Crooks prior to the shooting but failed to stop him carrying out the attack.
Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle told CNN on Tuesday that her agency was “solely responsible” for the design, implementation, and execution of the security at the rally site. “The buck stops with me,” she told ABC News a day earlier, calling the incident “unacceptable.”
