Sen. Josh Hawley said a whistleblower told him that most of the agents who protected President Donald Trump during the assassination attempt at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania in July were Department of Homeland Security employees with minimal security training.
While dozens of Secret Service agents were on hand to protect Trump at the July 13 rally, the security was primarily provided by Department of Homeland Security agents who only received training in online webinars before the rally, Sen. Hawley (R-Mo.) said in an interview on “Jesse Watters Primetime” on Tuesday night.
“It was a two-hour online webinar, and I was told half the time the audio for the webinar was inaudible,” Hawley alleged.
“Just think about it, when the former president of the United States was sent on stage, most of the people there were untrained and unqualified. They only had training through webinars and even that was ineffective,” he mocked.
“It's just horrible.”
Senator Hawley and other lawmakers are currently investigating the events that took place at the Butler rally, where President Trump narrowly escaped an assassination attempt by gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks.
Rep. Clay Higgins (R-Louisiana) recently revealed that the Butler SWAT team actually fired the first shots, damaging Crooks' rifle and thwarting the shooter's rampage before the Secret Service finally took action.
Jesse Watters noted that when Acting Director of the Secret Service Ronald Rowe Jr. testified before Congress about the July 31 incident, he made no mention of the actions of the local SWAT team.
