The bipartisan task force investigating the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump raised concerns Tuesday, a day after visiting the site of the incident that occurred July 13 in Butler, Pennsylvania.
"What we saw and heard underscored concerns about multiple security shortcomings and the lack of a common understanding among local law enforcement officials about exactly how the Secret Service intended to address a threat like one the that developed," the task force's chair Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Pa., and ranking member Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo., said in a statement. "The valuable information gathered yesterday adds to the Task Force's work over the past weeks and will be used to press the Secret Service and other federal entities to provide necessary documents and interviews as we return to Washington."
Kelly and Crow are among the 13 members of the task force assigned with investigating the assassination attempt on Trump. Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, fired eight shots at Trump during the rally in Butler. Trump was hit in the right ear, and Crooks killed spectator Corey Comperatore, 50, who was shielding his wife and daughters from the gunfire, and seriously wounded James Copenhaver, 74, and David Dutch, a 57-year-old Marine Corps veteran.
The shooting occurred at the Butler Farm Show grounds while Crooks was perched on top of the American Glass Research building about 130 yards away from where Trump was speaking. Members of the task force toured the grounds and the building to gain a better assessment of how Crooks was able to slip past multiple security layers to get within range to shoot at Trump.
The committee has requested additional documents from the Secret Service, as well as interviews from other federal agencies. The stated goals of the task force are to understand what went wrong, ensure accountability, and prevent such agency failures from reoccurring.
James Morley III ✉
James Morley III is a writer with more than two decades of experience in entertainment, travel, technology, and science and nature.
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