House Speaker Johnson opens probe into Trump assassination attempt and Secret Service lapses

07/21/2024 / By Ramon Tomey

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has opened an investigation of the failed assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, alongside the Secret Service’s lapses.

The congressman shared this development on July 17 during an interview with the Daily Signal. He had reportedly talked with Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines and leadership of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). However, Johnson specified that he has not spoken with FBI Director Christopher Wray directly.

“The answers that they are providing to us thus far are not satisfactory,” said Johnson. “So I announced … that we are [going to] set up a special task force, a precision strike on this. It will be a bipartisan investigatory group and they will have subpoena authority. We’re going to get down to the bottom of this quickly.”

According to the speaker, the investigation by the FBI – which is under the Department of Justice – focuses on the shooter, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks. But he emphasized that it is the Secret Service itself, under the masthead of the Department of Homeland Security, that is in charge of the overall security protocol.

“Mayorkas has now taken the reins of that. We are hearing … that he is going to instruct [Secret Service] Director [Kimberly] Cheatle not to appear on Capitol Hill to answer the first round of questions. I hope that is not true,” Johnson remarked.

“Our [House] Oversight and our [House] Homeland Security committees appropriately acted quickly and issued notices for those hearings that would begin [on July 22]. But so far, they look to be unresponsive for that.”

The speaker also called for the resignation of Cheatle, noting: “What happened there does not require a thorough investigation. We can all see just by what we’ve observed that there were serious security lapses. And her initial explanation that the roof was too slanted to provide security there, it just doesn’t wash.”

Secret Service repeatedly denied Trump’s requests for added protection

“Critics across the board have described the security breach at Trump’s Pennsylvania campaign rally as a ‘catastrophic failure’ of the Secret Service,” according to LifeSiteNews. “Counter-snipers fatally shot the gunman … after one of his shots grazed the former president’s right ear.” (Related: Trump shot, survives ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT in Pennsylvania; shooter, one rally attendee killed, others wounded.)

But a GOP colleague of the House speaker has alleged that Mayorkas denied stronger Secret Service protection for the former president multiple times. Florida Rep. Mike Waltz, a member of the House Homeland Security Committee, made this claim hours after the failed assassination attempt on Trump.

“I have very reliable sources telling me there have been repeated requests for stronger Secret Service protection for [former] President Trump,” Waltz posted on X, adding that all those requests were “denied by Secretary Mayorkas.”

One of the sources cited by Waltz said the House Homeland Security Committee “has seen these reports as well and [is] going to be conducting thorough oversight into what happened both leading up to and in the immediate aftermath of the attempted assassination of [former] President Trump. Obviously, such reports are deeply troubling and demand investigation.”

The Biden administration only made improvements to Trump’s security protection two days after the failed assassination attempt on him. POLITICO reported on July 15 that “adjustments” had been made to Trump’s security protection, according to Mayorkas. The secretary also added that the same adjustments applied to incumbent President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.

U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) will also get “the appropriate level of security,” Mayorkas added. Even independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whose family has a history of being targeted for assassinations, will now receive Secret Service protection.

Head over to Trump.news for more stories about the assassination attempt on the former president.

Watch House Speaker Mike Johnson urging Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle to step down following the Trump assassination attempt.

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