Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kansas) said the Secret Service’s briefing to senators about the assassination attempt on former President Trump was “completely worthless.”
In an interview with Fox News Digital, he claimed the information provided to lawmakers about the shooting could be summarized “in two minutes.”
But, “it took them an hour to explain it to us.”
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Senator Roger Marshall criticized the Secret Service’s explanation for the assassination attempt on President Trump to senators. (Getty Images)
Senators were briefed on the situation Wednesday, just days after a shooting at a Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, left Trump bleeding and injured in his right ear, killed one spectator and sent two others to the hospital.
“The Secret Service administration has taken responsibility for the problems, but has never said there was a massive failure,” Marshall said.
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Republican candidate Donald Trump was photographed being escorted off stage, bleeding from the face and surrounded by Secret Service agents, during a campaign event at the Butler Farm Show in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13, 2024. (Rebecca Droke/AFP via Getty Images)
“What we found is that there is a huge cultural problem within the Secret Service,” he claimed. “They [Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion] They are focused on their mission and they hire people who will get the job done.”
The Kansas Republican reported that under House Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-Ky., fewer questions are being asked at agency and department briefings. “It seems like every time, there are fewer questions,” Schumer said.
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Republican presidential candidate and former president Donald Trump is watched by U.S. Secret Service agents during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, Saturday, July 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Another senator told Fox News Digital that only four senators were allowed to ask questions during the agency’s briefing.
There was so little information that Marshall said, “There was nothing that hadn’t been said in the news the day before.”
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Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle is expected to take a more active role in addressing security concerns following Saturday’s assassination attempt on former President Trump. (U.S. Secret Service)
The Republican senator even suggested that Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle may not actually know “the details of the investigation.”
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“The chief made very few comments and then she handed it over to the deputy chief who explained the investigation,” Marshall said.
Asked whether the assassination attempt was being taken seriously, he said: “I think they want to take it seriously, but they’re incompetent.”
“Continuity of operations during any significant incident is paramount, and Director of the U.S. Secret Service Kimberly Cheatle has no intention of resigning,” Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said in a statement to Fox News Digital on Thursday.
“She has deep respect for members of Congress and is committed to leading the Secret Service with transparency through our internal investigations and strengthening the agency through lessons learned in these important internal and external investigations.”
