WASHINGTON — As the country reels from the assassination attempt on former President Donald J. Trump and the Secret Service comes under intense scrutiny, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said Monday that “we are in a heightened and highly dynamic threat environment.”
The former president and official Republican Party candidate for president in 2024 survived a shooting at a campaign rally in Butler on Saturday that left one person dead and two others injured.
“Both President Biden and former President Trump have been under constant threat,” Mayorkas said during a White House news conference defending the Secret Service’s record. Members of Congress are holding hearings to investigate whether there were security lapses.
“The United States Secret Service, we, including the FBI, and our partners across the federal government, take these threats very seriously and adjust security as warranted,” Mayorkas said, adding that “keeping the president, the former president, and their campaign events safe is one of our highest priorities.”
Mayorkas said Biden ordered the Secret Service to protect Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an independent presidential candidate, in the wake of the shooting.
The secretary also said that “both before and after the events of this past weekend, the Secret Service has enhanced protection for former President Trump, given the evolving nature of threats to the former President and his imminent transition from presumptive nominee to nominee.”
Trump ‘sheltered’ after Butler rally shooting; one spectator and shooting suspect killed
Trump is in Milwaukee, Wisconsin for Republican National Conventionwhere on Monday he was officially nominated as the Republican Party’s presidential candidate, alongside his newly elected running mate, Ohio Senator J.D. Vance.
Mayorkas also reiterated Biden’s promise Sunday to conduct an independent review, saying it “will examine the actions of the Secret Service and other law enforcement agencies before, during, and after the shooting to determine the immediate and long-term corrective actions necessary to ensure that the unwavering mission of protecting the nation’s leaders is accomplished in the most effective manner.”
After the shooting, Gov. Josh Shapiro identified the man killed as Corey Comperatore, a former fire chief. Shapiro said Comperatore “died like a hero” and “threw himself at his family to protect them” the night of the shooting.
Victims and shooter identified in Trump attack at Butler rally
The FBI continues to conduct a criminal investigation into the incident and has identified the shooter as Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania. Crooks died at the scene.
Mayorkas expressed support for Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle.
“I have 100 percent confidence in the director of the United States Secret Service. I have 100 percent confidence in the United States Secret Service and what you saw on stage Saturday in terms of individuals putting their lives on the line to protect others is exactly what the American public should see every day. That’s what I do,” he said.
Asked by CNN if it was a security failure, Mayorkas replied: “When I say something like this can’t happen, we’re talking about a failure.”
Congressional investigations are multiplying
Meanwhile, lawmakers from both parties have called for an investigation into the attempted assassination of Trump.
The Secret Service is scheduled to brief members of the U.S. House of Representatives Oversight and Accountability Committee on Tuesday.
The committee will also hold a hearing early next week, after Congress returns from a week-long recess, during which Cheatle will testify.
“We are grateful to the brave Secret Service agents who responded quickly to protect President Trump after shots were fired and to the patriotic Americans who sought to help the victims, but questions remain about how a rooftop near President Trump remained unsecured,” Rep. James Comer, chairman of the committee, said in a statement Monday.
“The American people are demanding answers from Director Kimberly Cheatle about these safety failures and how we can prevent similar incidents from happening again,” said Comer, a Kentucky Republican.
In a statement Monday, Cheatle said the Secret Service understands “the significance of the independent review announced yesterday by President Biden and will participate fully in it.”
“We will also cooperate with the appropriate congressional committees on any oversight actions,” she said.
Cheatle also noted that “the Secret Service is working with all involved federal, state and local agencies to understand what happened, how it happened and how we can prevent a similar incident from happening again.”
House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green I wrote a letter on Sunday to Mayorkas, requesting multiple documents, saying that “the gravity of this security failure and this horrific moment in our nation’s history cannot be downplayed.”
“No assassination attempt has come this close to taking the life of a president or presidential candidate since President Reagan was shot in 1981,” said Green, a Tennessee Republican.
Senators also plan investigations
Efforts to investigate the attempted assassination are also intensifying in the Senate.
Michigan Sen. Gary Peters and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul — the respective chairmen and ranking members of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee — said Monday that the committee initiation of a bipartisan investigation and plans to hold a hearing soon to investigate the “security shortcomings” that led to the attempted assassination of Trump.
The two sent a letter to Mayorkas and FBI Director Christopher Wray requesting a briefing for committee members and information from the Department of Homeland Security, the Secret Service and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. They also asked that Mayorkas, Wray or an “appropriate designee” appear at a committee hearing on the matter by Aug. 1.
“There is no place for political violence in our country, and the shocking attack on Saturday should never have happened,” Peters said in a statement Monday.
“Our committee is focused on gathering all the facts about the security failures that allowed the attacker to carry out this heinous act of violence that endangered the life of former President Trump, killed at least one person in the crowd, and injured several others,” he said.
In addition, Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina and a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, led the GOP members of the committee on Monday. calling on Chairman Dick Durbin “conduct an inquiry into the circumstances that led to this tragedy.”
Graham and nine other Republicans also asked the Illinois Democrat to invite Cheatle, Mayorkas and Wray to testify before the committee.
