On July 13, 2024, an assassin nearly killed President Trump.
The gunman injured him and two rally participants, and [he] killed Corey Comperatore.
We keep him [and] his family in our prayers, as well as everyone affected that day.
Today, one year and one day later, I come to the floor to provide an update on my ongoing oversight of that attempted assassination.
The day of the shooting, I launched an investigation focused on gathering and releasing information to the public.
I didn’t want the public to be kept in the dark.
Public transparency stops conspiracy theories.
Sixty years after JFK’s assassination, we still have questions being asked.
Unfortunately, there are still aspects to [the Trump] shooting where the government hasn’t been transparent.
The Biden administration stonewalled my oversight requests.
I strongly urge the new administration to let all the facts breathe, unlike the last administration.
[On] the day of the shooting, my oversight unit quickly got to work.
They talked to patriotic whistleblowers.
They [performed] dozens of witness [interviews], including [with] local law enforcement officials, rally goers and local businesses.
My staff obtained and reviewed weeks-worth of security footage, text messages, pictures, law enforcement briefing materials, after-action reports and still other records.
They also obtained police body camera footage that provided the first video of what happened in the aftermath of that shooting.
I made it all public.
At the time, my investigative work unveiled the most detailed picture of the Trump assassination attempt.
As part of my oversight, I asked the Department of Homeland Security’s Inspector General to review the matter.
I also requested the Government Accountability Office to do the same as I asked the Inspector General to do.
The American people wanted answers, and they wanted accountability in the aftermath of this tragedy.
I have worked hard to do just that, and I know there’s more work to be done.
This past weekend, the Government Accountability Office produced [to] me its report on the July 13 assassination attempt.
The Government Accountability Office’s report starts by stating, “The U.S. Secret Service failed to implement security measures that could’ve prevented the assassination attempt on then-former President Donald J. Trump during a July 13, 2024, campaign rally.”
According to the report, prior to the July 13 rally, Secret Service received information from the Intelligence Community about a threat against President Trump’s life.
Yet, this threat information wasn’t shared with Secret Service personnel or local law enforcement officials all responsible for securing that event.
Clearly, had all federal, state and local law enforcement officials known of this threat, it would’ve changed how they secured the AGR building, where the sniper opened fire from.
As I previously made public, Secret Service and its local partners had cell phone issues on July 13.
The Government Accountability Office report found that Secret Service didn’t have a policy to assess cellular service at the site, even though communication is key during any major event like this.
This resulted in the Secret Service not receiving real-time threat information and updates during the search for the gunman.
Every delayed second in finding the gunman meant that he was one step closer to carrying out his evil objective.
I previously made public documents showing that the Secret Service had issues with [its] counter drone system at the rally.
The Government Accountability Office confirmed my previous oversight.
GAO found that the Secret Service’s counter drone operator lacked the training, the knowledge and support to fix and operate the counter drone system.
According to the Government Accountability Office report, these problems occurred because the Secret Service didn’t follow its own requirements that personnel must complete training before operating a counter drone system.
The GAO report says the Secret Service said using a counter drone is like “turning on a flashlight.” Yet, the counter drone did not work, and the Secret Service could not fix it.
Had a counter drone been operating as planned, it could’ve identified the shooter’s drone and even the shooter.
The Government Accountability Office’s report also found that Secret Service planned to use farm equipment to address a line-of-sight issue when securing the AGR building.
Before the rally, a campaign staffer asked Secret Service to modify the plan, which the advance team did as the staffer requested.
But they didn’t notify senior officials overseeing the rally of these changes.
If they had, the senior officials might’ve overruled them.
While the report says the Secret Service has made changes to correct some of these problems, they still have more work to do.
The Secret Service operates [on] a zero-fail mission, and they don’t have room for any error.
Every failure exposed by the Government Accountability Office report must be turned into positive changes in the Secret Service.
I want my colleagues to know I’ll be riding herd on them until I’m satisfied the job is done.
I want to close out by thanking the law enforcement officers serving on the frontlines, including Secret Service, Capitol Police, their law enforcement partners and, of course, their families. All [are] working hard and sacrificing to keep the public and the government safe.
I am grateful to you all, and do not in the future then take the days that seem “uneventful” for granted.
I yield the floor.
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