Rep. Pat Fallon, R-Texas, a member of the bipartisan House committee investigating the assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump, told Newsmax on Tuesday the big unanswered question is: Who in the Secret Service was in charge of securing the perimeter on July 13 in Butler, Pennsylvania?
"That's the first question we need to have answered," Fallon, a member of the House Oversight and Armed Services committees, told "The Record With Greta Van Susteren."
"And we don't know formally who that person is yet because there were the folks that [were] in charge of the body, the actual protectee [Trump]. And then there's those that [were] in charge of the perimeter and the site plan."
Fallon said it was the first question that was asked of former Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle when she testified in front of the Oversight Committee on July 22. Cheatle resigned shortly after testifying.
"She wouldn't tell us," Fallon said. "She knew a lot that she didn't tell us. And I can tell you right now, most of what I know about what happened at Butler is from personal contacts I have with the Secret Service or FBI or whistleblowers, not from official channels.
"And once this investigation kicks off in full steam, these are the questions that we have to have answered."
Trump was struck in the right ear by a bullet fired from Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, who also killed a spectator and seriously injured two others before a Secret Service sniper gunned him down. Crooks was able to climb onto the roof of the American Glass Research [AGR] International Inc. factory building, about 130 yards away from where Trump was speaking, to get in position to shoot.
Fallon said federal whistleblowers have shed a big light on what happened that day.
"According to them, it was an epic, historic failure. It was gross incompetence," he said.
"The fact that the AGR building should have been one of the first buildings to be secured. The fact that there was nobody on the water tower, there wasn't a countersurveillance team. There wasn't a counterassault team.
"They didn't properly coordinate and do walk-throughs with [local law enforcement]. Their communications weren't recorded. They couldn't sync their communications with the locals. I mean, we can go on and on. It's ridiculous," Fallon said.
"I can tell you there was a person in charge of that site plan, and there needs to be consequences for this kind of epic failure. I'm so sick and tired of government, like the Afghanistan withdrawal, and nobody gets fired.
"There's never a consequence, and there has to be. There is in the private sector. I don't know why there isn't in government," he said.
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Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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