The Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee has requested information from eight federal, state, and local agencies regarding the shooting.
The Senate’s Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (HSGAC), which is investigating the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump on July 13, issued several letters to federal law enforcement agencies on July 24 demanding information related to the incident.
Congress has launched
several investigations of the incident—the first time a U.S. president was injured in an assassination attempt since March 30, 1981, when John Hinckley Jr. shot President Ronald Reagan—with the House of Representatives
voting on July 24 to form a special task force to conduct its investigation. The HSGAC that day
issued letters to eight federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies demanding information on their activities, communications, and records pertaining to the shooting.
“The senators are seeking information on security preparations, intelligence gathering on potential violence prior to the attack, and detailed explanations of the agencies’ security response,” Sens. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), and Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) wrote in a HSGAC statement.
The Secret Service, the agency
by law responsible for former President Trump’s personal protection, has faced the most scrutiny due to its responsibility for the security of the political rally on July 13, where the shooting occurred. Kimberly Cheatle, the director of the Secret Service at the time of the incident,
resigned on July 23 after congressional criticism of
her testimony before the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, where she declined to share certain information requested by members of Congress.
The HSGAC has requested from the Secret Service “site security plans, including maps, diagrams, and operational plans,” “the designation of security perimeters,” and “risk or threat assessments and identified vulnerabilities, including without
limitation, those that specifically address the building from which the shooter operated,” according to its
letter to Ms. Cheatle’s successor, Acting Director Ronald Rowe. It has also requested a “’tick-tock' timeline” of the whole incident—from the selection of the location to the shooting and its aftermath—as well as information about the Secret Service’s response to an alleged Iranian plot to assassinate former President Trump.
The HSGAC also wrote to the FBI, which is leading the investigation into the alleged shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, who was shot and killed by the Secret Service after the attempted assassination. It has
requested intelligence about threats to the former president, details on the sharing of that intelligence, and information on the FBI’s involvement in the rally. A
letter was also sent to the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis for similar information.
Among state and local agencies, the HSGAC wrote demand letters to the
sheriff and
district attorney of Butler County, where the shooting occurred, as well as to the Butler Township
Police Department. Letters were also sent to the
district attorney of Beaver County, whose law enforcement officers were present on the roof immediately after Mr. Crooks was shot, and the
commissioner of the Pennsylvania State Police, whose personnel were involved in security for the rally.
The HSGAC plans to hold a joint hearing with the Senate Judiciary Committee on July 30, featuring Mr. Rowe and FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate, for questions about the incident. Responses to the HSGAC’s letters are due from the various agencies on Aug. 7.
Neither the Secret Service nor the FBI responded to requests for comment by publication time.
