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Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley (R) on Friday revealed that whistleblowers had approached him with information indicating that the protection of Donald Trump was lax at the Pennsylvania rally during which the former president was shot.
“According to the allegations, the July 13 rally was considered to be a ‘loose’ security event,” Hawley wrote in a letter he sent to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle.
Hawley added that these whistleblowers told him that no dogs were used to monitor the people who tried to enter the event site. But that was just one of the potential security lapses.
“Individuals without proper designations were able to gain backstage areas,” Hawley wrote. “Department personnel did not appropriately police the security buffer around the podium and were also not stationed at regular intervals around the event’s security perimeter.”
Lawmakers from both parties have called for investigations into what happened, and how it was possible that a shooter managed to climb onto the roof of a nearby building and fire multiple rounds from only about 150 yards away.
Hawley also stated that the whistleblowers who approached him suggested that the majority of DHS personnel on site were not with the Secret Service but rather with the department’s Homeland Security Investigations (HIS) unit.
Calling the entire thing a “staggering security failure,” the senator pledged to thoroughly investigate DHS’s role in this debacle. However, he noted that the department “has not been appropriately forthcoming with Members of Congress.”
Hawley cited a call with the Secret Service that ended before most senators were able to ask their questions.
“This is completely unacceptable and contrary to the public’s interest in transparency,” he wrote. “Instead, we have learned more from whistleblowers than your department’s officials.”
To shed light on what happened, the senator is giving DHS seven days to answer a series of questions.
Specifically, Hawley wants to know how the department determined on how much staff the event required, including state and local resources, how many of its agents on site were actually with the Secret Service.
In addition, he is asking Mayorkas whether the HIS agents were properly trained to provide security at these types of events.
Next, he inquired about whether there were gaps in the security perimeter and whether the usual protocols had been followed for positioning dogs and magnetometers at the location of the rally to ensure Trump’s safety.
Finally, the senator also wants to know how long DHS agents spent on site to ensure the former president’s safety, and whether any paperwork requirements prevented a more thorough examination.
Both DHS and the Secret Service are facing an uphill battle if they want to convince lawmakers from both parties that they did their best in protecting Trump, a former president and, at the time, the almost-certain nominee of his party… especially because a lot of witness testimony and videos from the time of the assassination attempt seem to indicate serious security lapses.
