Trump assassination attempt: Homeland Security investigates Secret Service

The Department of Homeland Security inspector general has opened an investigation into the Secret Service and their handling of the assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump.

Read more trending news

Trump was wounded in the shooting in Butler County, Pennsylvania. One rally attendee was killed and two others were injured.

The inspector general’s website was updated Wednesday morning with the notice that the investigation is to “Evaluate the United States Secret Service’s (Secret Service) process for securing former President Trump’s July 13, 2024 campaign event.”

According to the inspector general’s account on the social media platform X, the office’s job is to “provide independent oversight of @DHSgov.”

No date was provided when the investigation was started, the AP reported.

President Joe Biden called for an independent review of what led to the shooting of Trump by Thomas Crooks, 20.

Crooks was able to get within 135 meters of the former president with an AR-style gun, despite warnings from rally attendees.

At @POTUS’s direction, an independent review of Saturday’s assassination attempt will be conducted to identify the immediate and longer-term corrective actions required to ensure that the no-fail mission of protecting national leaders is most effectively met. pic.twitter.com/QgBjXCIITx
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) July 16, 2024

On Tuesday, officials said there was a threat to Trump from Iran, which necessitated additional security for the former president, the AP reported.

Secret Service Director Kim Cheatle said the agency will work with investigators as well as congressional committees to examine what happened and to ensure it doesn’t happen again.

Trump assassination attempt: New details emerge in shooting

Cheatle told CNN that the Secret Service was “solely responsible” for the security at the rally.

“At that particular site, we divided up areas of responsibility, but the Secret Service is totally responsible for the design and implementation and the execution of the site,” the director told CNN.

Trump assassination attempt: Secret Service says it did not sweep building where gunman was located

Earlier she had told ABC News that local law enforcement was responsible for the building where Crooks was perched.

Assassination attempt (Cox Media Group/Google Earth)

“What I was trying to stress was that we just divided up areas of responsibility, and they provided support to those areas of responsibility,” Cheatle said, adding the organization “couldn’t do our job without them.”

Trump assassination attempt: Who is Thomas Crooks, the man accused of shooting Trump?

The FBI is also investigating, CNN reported.

0 of 20