Former President Donald Trump said that he was not told about a gunman on the roof of a building before he was shot during a rally in Pennsylvania on July 13.
Officials “could’ve said, ‘Let’s wait for 15, 20 minutes, 5 minutes.’ Nobody said ... I think that was a mistake,” he added. “How did somebody get on that roof? And why wasn’t he reported? Because people saw he was on that roof.”
“When you have Trumpers screaming, the woman in the red shirt, ‘There’s a man on the roof,’ and other people, ‘There’s a man on the roof and who’s got a gun,’ ... that was quite a bit before I walked on the stage. And I would’ve thought someone would’ve done something about it,” former President Trump said, noting what rallygoers have said in interviews with media outlets about what they witnessed.
The comments appear to be the first time the former president has questioned the Secret Service’s preparations for the event. Former President Trump has largely praised the agency for its response to the shooter, identified by the FBI last week as Thomas Matthew Crooks.
A bullet fired from the rifle used struck the former president in the right ear, although he appeared largely unscathed during public appearances last week. On that ear, he wore a bandage and was wearing a smaller bandage during his interview with Mr. Watters.
Hours after last week’s assassination attempt, the 45th president wrote a Truth Social post thanking the Secret Service for quickly rushing into protect him, and, during his speech to the Republican National Convention (RNC) in Milwaukee on July 18, he applauded Secret Service snipers for taking out the suspect after he opened fire on the rally.
Since the incident, questions have emerged about both the Secret Service’s and local law enforcement’s preparations for and coordination during the event, namely as to how a 20-year-old was able to get on a roof with a rifle a clear line of site to the stage.
On July 19, both House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) and Oversight Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), in a rare joint statement, called on Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle to testify as soon as possible before their panel. A spokesperson for the agency confirmed that she will testify on Monday, when she'll likely face questioning at length from members of Congress.
While a number of politicians, including Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and at least one Democrat lawmaker, have called on Ms. Cheatle to resign, the former president has not been one of them. In response to the backlash, Ms. Cheatle and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas have said she will remain head of the Secret Service.
“I do plan to stay on,” Ms. Cheatle said in an interview with ABC News last week.
Also in that interview, the agency director said that she is the one who is ultimately responsible for the incident.
“The buck stops with me,” she said. “I am the director of the Secret Service, and I need to make sure that we are performing a review and that we are giving resources to our personnel as necessary.”
On July 14, President Joe Biden ordered a review of the assassination attempt and called on Americans to tamp down the incendiary political rhetoric. Days later, the Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general posted two notices on its website that it would investigate how the agency prepared for the Pennsylvania rally and how its snipers responded.
The Epoch Times contacted the Secret Service for comment Sunday.
