The House Homeland Security Committee holds a hearing on “Examining the Assassination Attempt of July 13” at 10 a.m. ET on July 23.
Updated
Pennsylvania State Police Chief Discloses Details on Trump Rally Shooting
Col. Christopher L. Paris, Commissioner of the Pennsylvania State Police, testifies before the House Committee on Homeland Security during a hearing at the Canon House Office Building in Washington, on July 23, 2024. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
PinnedHouse Homeland Security Committee Hearing on ‘Examining the Assassination Attempt of July 13’
By Epoch Video
House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green (R-Tenn.) speaks during a hearing in Washington on Nov. 15, 2023. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times
Rep. Mark Green (R-Tenn.) questions Colonel Christopher L. Paris Commissioner of the Pennsylvania State Police and Patrick Yoes, National President of the Fraternal Order of Police, during the House Committee on Homeland Security hearing at Capitol on July 23, 2024. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
This June 3, 2022 still image taken from video provided by the Bethel Park School District shows student Thomas Matthew Crooks in the 2022 Bethel Park High School Commencement in Bethel Park, Pa. The Bethel Park School District via AP
Ten days after the failed assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump at a Pennsylvania rally, officials have not found a motive, while other details about the shooter, who was killed that day by a Secret Service sniper, remain unclear.
The shooter’s father, Matthew Brian Crooks, 53, was spotted leaving a store on Monday, telling Fox News that he won’t be releasing a statement on the shooting for the time being.
“We just want to try to take care of ourselves right now. Please, just give us our space,” Mr. Crooks told the Fox News reporter in a videotaped encounter in Bethel Park. “We’re going to release a statement when our legal counsel advises us to do so—until then, we have no comment.”
Law enforcement agents stand near the stage of a campaign rally for Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump in Butler, Pa., on July 13, 2024. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
The man who shot former President Donald Trump in Pennsylvania on July 13 had a detonation device, the state’s top police official said on July 23.
“We were aware of that very early on and that was a serious tactical consideration in the immediate aftermath as we worked that crime scene,” Col. Christopher Paris, commissioner of the Pennsylvania State Police, told a U.S. House of Representatives hearing in Washington.
Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas) had asked Col. Paris for confirmation that Thomas Crooks, the 20-year-old shooter, had a detonation device and bombs in his car, which was parked near the rally.
Col. Christopher L. Paris, Commissioner of the Pennsylvania State Police, testifies before the House Committee on Homeland Security during a hearing at Capitol on July 23, 2024. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle testifies during a House Oversight Committee hearing examining potential security failures surrounding the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump on Capitol Hill, on July 22, 2024. Chris Kleponis/AFP via Getty Images
Kimberly Cheatle, the director of the U.S. Secret Service, resigned on July 23, one day after her testimony before Congress about the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump.
“I take full responsibility for the security lapse,” she said in the email to Secret Service staff. “In light of recent events, it is with a heavy heart that I have made the difficult decision to step down as your director.”
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas soon after said he was appointing Ronald Rowe, the service’s deputy director, to serve as acting director.
By Chase Smith
Former President Donald Trump with blood on his face surrounded by secret service agents as he is taken off the stage at a campaign event in Butler, Pa., on July 13, 2024. Rebecca Droke/AFP via Getty Images
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) on July 23 announced the formation of a House Task Force to investigate the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump.
The announcement follows the July 13 shooting at a Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in which the former president and 2024 Republican nominee was shot in the ear. One rallygoer was killed and another two were injured in the shooting.
“The security failures that allowed an assassination attempt on Donald Trump’s life are shocking,” Mr. Johnson and Mr. Jeffries said in a joint statement.
By Epoch Video
House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green (R-Tenn.) speaks during a hearing in Washington on Nov. 15, 2023. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times
The House Homeland Security Committee holds a hearing on “Examining the Assassination Attempt of July 13” at 10 a.m. ET on July 23.
By Samantha Flom and Arjun Singh
U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle testifies before the House Oversight and Accountability Committee during a hearing at Capitol on July 22, 2024. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
WASHINGTON—The House Oversight Committee kicked off its investigation of the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump on July 22 by demanding answers from Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle.
Ms. Cheatle declined to provide the committee with some key details as to how suspected shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, managed to come close to a kill shot on a former president before being killed by a Secret Service sharpshooter.
However, the director did confirm certain details, including when the gunman was deemed a “threat” by agency personnel.