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WASHINGTON (CN) — The Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general announced on Wednesday that it had opened an investigation into the Secret Service’s response to the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump on Saturday.
The announcement comes amid growing concern about the security lapse that allowed a 20-year-old shooter to get within 157 yards of the stage where Trump was speaking, despite warnings from rallygoers and local police before the shooting.
A notice posted to the inspector general’s website says the investigation will evaluate the Secret Service’s “process for securing former President Trump’s July 13, 2024, campaign event.”
No launch date for the investigation was included in the announcement. The notice was one of many in a list of ongoing cases the inspector general is pursuing.
Police say Thomas Matthew Crooks used an AR-15-style gun to fire at least five shots, one of which whizzed past Trump’s head and nicked his ear, killed one member of the crowd and injured two others. Investigators found Crooks’ car parked outside the rally venue with an explosive device in the trunk.
Crooks climbed undetected to the top of a nearby building, where local police were reportedly stationed inside, until nearby attendees spotted him and began shouting for police to respond at least 86 seconds before he began firing at Trump.
On Sunday, President Joe Biden announced a review of the security at the rally while calling for Americans to “lower the temperature” of political rhetoric in an address from the Oval Office.
Meanwhile, lawmakers on Capitol Hill have moved to begin their own inquiry, with the House Committee on Homeland Security scheduling an oversight hearing for Tuesday.
Chairman Mark Green, a Republican representative from Tennessee, announced that Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, FBI Director Christopher Wray and Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle have been called to testify.
“The American people want answers on what happened Saturday in Pennsylvania,” Green said in a statement. “It is imperative that we partner to understand what went wrong, how Congress can work with the departments and agencies to ensure this never happens again.”
Republican representative James Comer, chairman of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, issued a subpoena Wednesday compelling Cheatle to testify before the committee on Monday, writing in a letter to Cheatle that the attempted assassination represented a “total failure of the agency’s core mission.”
The House Judiciary Committee announced a similar oversight hearing, scheduled for July 24, to examine the FBI’s investigation into the shooting and the “ongoing politicization of the nation’s preeminent law enforcement agency” under Wray and Attorney General Merrick Garland.
Though the announcement included Garland’s name, Wray is set to be the sole witness at that hearing.
Additionally, House Speaker Mike Johnson announced during a Fox interview on Wednesday that he would create a task force to investigate the shooting and called for Cheatle’s resignation.
The FBI’s investigation of the shooter is ongoing. The agency said Monday that agents now have access to Crook’s phone and are analyzing his electronic devices.
Agents have already searched Crooks’ home and vehicle and conducted nearly 100 interviews of law enforcement personnel, rallygoers and other witnesses without establishing a clear motive for Crooks’ actions.
In the days following the shooting, Crooks, who was killed by counter-snipers soon after firing at Trump and killing an audience member, has been identified as a registered Republican. He also made a $15 donation to liberal PAC, ActBlue, the day Biden took office in January 2021.
Crooks was also a member of a local shooting club, the Clairton Sportsmen’s Club, for at least a year. The gun he used in the shooting was reportedly purchased by his father over 11 years ago.
Revelations about purported Iranian threats against Trump prior to the rally, which prompted a surge in security, have led to further questions about Saturday’s security failures.
Trump has long been a target of Iran’s ire since he ordered the 2020 killing of Qassem Soleimani, leader of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force, but there does not appear to be any tie between Iran and Crooks.
The attempted assassination has sparked concerns that other people may be inspired to take actions themselves in “follow-on or retaliatory attacks,” according to Politico reporting of a joint FBI and DHS intelligence bulletin.
According to the July 15 bulletin, law enforcement officials have identified threats made in certain “online communities” encouraging violence in response to the attempted assassination. The threats span the ideological spectrum and their targets include a wide range of entities associated with elections, the agencies noted in the bulletin.
Security around the former president has increased in the wake of the shooting, as seen during Trump’s appearances at the Republican National Convention this week, where he has been surrounded by Secret Service agents.
The security detail around Biden has also increased, with more agents surrounding him as he boarded Air Force One for Las Vegas on Monday. Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has also received Secret Service protection after months of requesting it.
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