Whistleblowers have informed the House Judiciary Committee that the Secret Service (USSS) had “limited resources” due to covering the NATO summit in Washington, DC. This comes amid scrutiny over the attempted assassination of Donald Trump at a Pennsylvania rally on July 13, 2024.
A letter from the Judiciary Committee stated, “The Committee on the Judiciary is conducting oversight of the attempted assassination of President Donald J. Trump on July 13, 2024, and investigative actions taken by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in advance of and following the shooting.”
Whistleblowers revealed that the USSS held two briefings on July 8, 2024, with the Western Pennsylvania Fusion Center (WPFC) and other stakeholders, discussing the upcoming visits by President Trump and First Lady Dr. Jill Biden. USSS Special Agent in Charge Tim Burke reportedly informed law enforcement partners that the agency had limited resources that week due to the NATO summit. FBI personnel attended these briefings.
Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, managed to get on top of a building 150 yards from Trump with a rifle, despite being labeled a person of interest by the USSS. Crooks’ parents had tipped off police about their son before the rally.
USSS Director Kimberly Cheatle is facing calls to resign due to the security failures. Senators Marsha Blackburn, John Barrasso, James Lankford, and Kevin Cramer confronted her after a Senate briefing on the matter.
The letter requested that FBI Director Christopher Wray “ensure that the Committee can effectively evaluate these matters during [his] testimony on July 24, 2024,” and added, “We request that you be prepared to fully address all questions about the attempted assassination of President Trump and the FBI’s investigation of it.”
