Secret Service “failure” played a part in the incident, the Homeland Security head has said
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump was nearly killed due to a “failure” of his Secret Service protection detail, US Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has said.
Trump was speaking at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday when he narrowly dodged a bullet that took off a part of his ear. One person in the stands was killed, and two others were seriously wounded before the Secret Service neutralized the gunman.
“An incident like this cannot happen,” Mayorkas told CNN on Monday. “When I say that something like this cannot happen, we are speaking of a failure.”
“We are going to analyze, through an independent review, how that occurred, why it occurred, and make recommendations and findings to ensure it doesn’t happen again,” he added.
Trump’s protection detail has been criticized for its response to the Butler attack, from failing to notice the shooter on a roof about 120 meters away to being too slow to cover their protectee once the shots were fired.
Trump himself thanked the Secret Service for protecting him and called on the White House to grant a detail to Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an independent candidate. President Joe Biden did so on Monday afternoon.
The Secret Service has been under Homeland Security since 2003. The agency was originally created during the Civil War to investigate currency counterfeiting. Its duties were expanded to include protecting presidents in 1901.
Secret Service agents are currently tasked with protecting the sitting president and vice president from the moment they are elected, as well as former presidents, officials in the line of succession, and major presidential and VP candidates, along with their immediate families.
Republican lawmakers have demanded an investigation into the Butler attack. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle has said the agency will cooperate with both the congressional investigations and the White House’s independent review.
Thomas M. Crooks, the 20-year-old identified as the would-be assassin, had climbed onto the roof of a building directly in the line of sight of where Trump was speaking. Although locals who spotted him alerted police, it took several minutes for law enforcement to react.
On Monday evening, it emerged that the building from which Crooks shot was the staging area for the local police tactical team. This was reported by ABC News, citing law enforcement sources. The revelation raises even more questions about how the would-be assassin managed to get into position unhindered.
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