Members of Congress have opened multiple inquiries about how a gunman was allowed to get close enough to the former president to shoot at and injure him, as well as kill a rally attendee and wound others.
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Representative James R. Comer, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, is one of several congressional leaders demanding answers from the Secret Service.
Members of Congress pressed for answers from the Secret Service on Monday about how a gunman got within 500 feet of former President Donald J. Trump before opening fire at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, quickly ramping up a series of investigations into the matter.
At least three congressional committees said they had begun preliminary inquiries, and some lawmakers called for an independent commission to oversee them. High-level talks were underway about what path the investigations should take. And the House Oversight Committee announced that the first hearing would occur next Monday, when Kimberly Cheatle, the director of the Secret Service, is scheduled to testify.
“The American people deserve to know the truth,” Speaker Mike Johnson wrote on social media shortly after the assassination attempt on Saturday evening. In addition to Ms. Cheatle, he said lawmakers would ask “appropriate officials” from the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the Secret Service, and the F.B.I. to appear at a hearing “ASAP.”
The Secret Service was scheduled to brief members of Congress on Tuesday, according to a person familiar with the plans. Lawmakers are already criticizing the agency for allowing the attempt on the former president’s life.
“The United States Secret Service has a no-fail mission, yet it failed on Saturday when a madman attempted to assassinate President Trump, killed an innocent victim and harmed others,” Representative James R. Comer, Republican of Kentucky and the chairman of the Oversight panel, said in a statement. “We are grateful to the brave Secret Service agents who acted quickly to protect President Trump after shots were fired and the American patriots who sought to help victims, but questions remain about how a rooftop within proximity to President Trump was left unsecure.”
The House Homeland Security Committee was also investigating. Representative Mark E. Green of Tennessee, its chairman, demanded that the Secret Service turn over documents to his committee by Friday.
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Source: nytimes.com
