AG Garland: Trump 'Security Failure Not Acceptable'

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said it was "extremely alarming" that a shooter was able to get so close to Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on July 13, adding that the "security failure" in the assassination attempt is "not acceptable."

Garland made the comments in a sit-down interview with NBC News that will air Tuesday evening.

Garland said there was "no question" that Trump was the "object of an assassination attempt" in Butler, Pennsylvania.

"This should not happen in America. This kind of security failure is not acceptable," Garland told "NBC Nightly News." "This kind of a horrific attack on a former American president just can't continue. We have to be sure we stop this."

"Democracy will not survive if people decide that the way in which they're going to get whatever outcomes they want, or whatever other motive he may have, is by killing someone," Garland added. "That's why we have to find out what happened here, why it happened and make sure it doesn't happen again."

Thomas Michael Crooks, a 20-year-old from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, shot Trump in the ear from about 130 yards away, killed a rallygoer and wounded two others before being killed by a Secret Service countersniper.

The incident led to the resignation of now former Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle and has spurred congressional hearings and the formation of a task force to get to the bottom of how and why it happened. To date, the FBI has not ascertained a motive for Crooks, who had been amassing weapons and bomb-making material since spring 2023, the FBI said.

"Political violence goes against the core of what makes this country different from most other countries. We're a democracy, people make their views known vociferously, but in the end, they resolve matters by voting, by having their representatives vote and then accepting the results," Garland said.

• FBI: Trump Shooter Bought Guns, Bomb Kit in 2023
• WashPost: Local Cop Shot At, Distracted Trump Gunman