Pennsylvania law enforcement officials testified before Congress on Tuesday, accepting some responsibility for the near assassination of former President Donald Trump at a July 13 campaign rally, but said just minutes before resigning that U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle and her agency “bear ultimate responsibility.”
Pennsylvania State Police Superintendent Col. Christopher Parris and National Fraternal Order of Police President Patrick Yoess told members of the House Homeland Security Committee that the Secret Service was the primary agency tasked with providing security for the election event in Butler, Pennsylvania.
No law enforcement officers were at the scene from Butler County or nearby Pittsburgh County, which reportedly had tactical units stationed inside the building.
“Prior to the shooting, our role was to assist the Secret Service with personnel and assets as they requested,” Paris said in his opening statement.
“Our primary mission was two-fold: running the motorcade for former President Trump’s Secret Service transportation and staffing the security post within the secured area of the Butler County Agricultural Show,” he added.
“In addition, we have deployed two marked vehicles with uniformed officers outside the secured area to perform what is known as patrol duties to respond to any incidents that may arise as large groups of people move into the venue following the shooting,” Paris said.
“We must remember that the law enforcement mission is a shared mission, with agencies at all levels collaborating and working together on a daily basis,” Yoesu added.
“However, the U.S. Secret Service has ultimate responsibility and is the final arbiter of all security matters affecting their protectees and the public,” he said. “There were significant lapses in security at the Butler event.”
Two police witnesses offered condolences to the family of slain firefighter Corey Comperatore and best wishes to the other injured shooting victims, David Duch and James Copenhaver.
Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green (R-Tenn.) said he wanted an explanation for security failings in the shooting that occurred when 20-year-old gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks fired an AR-type rifle from a factory roof about 130 yards from the main stage, striking Trump in the right ear but not seriously wounding him.
In her opening remarks, Greene accused the Secret Service and the Department of Homeland Security of “massive security failures,” calling it “the most dangerous act that has come close to taking the life of a president or presidential candidate since the shooting of Ronald Reagan in 1981, more than 40 years ago.”
Cheatle, in testimony before the House Oversight Committee on Monday, revealed that even though the AGR International building had been flagged as a “security vulnerability,” no Secret Service or local anti-sniper teams were stationed there.
Crooks was reported to have used a drone to scout the area days before the rally and to have been seen walking around the venue with a rangefinder on the day of the rally, and was deemed a “suspicious person” by federal authorities an hour before Trump’s speech.
The chairman of the Homeland Security Committee led a bipartisan delegation to the Butler Farm Show grounds on Monday, where several lawmakers mocked Cheatle’s assertion that the sloping roof creates “safety concerns” for employees and that the roof isn’t locked.
“I am standing on the rooftops of Pennsylvania where Thomas Crooks plotted to assassinate President Trump,” said Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-Fla.). Post to X “I’m 70 years old and if I could get on this roof, anyone can do it,” he said in a video touring the scene.
In her opening statement, Greene sharply criticized the committee’s top Democrat, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Mississippi), for introducing a bill “clearly intended to strip former President Trump of Secret Service protection.”
“I understand that this law may not apply in this case, but it was clear to everyone that this was directed at the former president,” he said. “We all introduce bills to send a message, and this bill should be repealed.”
Republicans and Democrats on Monday called for Secret Service Director Cheatle to resign after he failed to provide any explanation to oversight committee members about the attempted assassination of President Trump.
Cheatle resigned Tuesday morning, saying in a letter to bureau staff that staying on as director would “be a distraction from the great work each of you are doing on our important mission.”
FBI Director Christopher Wray and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Tuesday ignored Greene’s request to voluntarily testify before the committee.
