Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) has called for cuts to the Secret Service’s budget, saying the recent assassination attempt on former President Trump raises questions about the service’s ability to keep public officials safe.
Roy Participated Fox News reporter Laura Ingraham made the remarks Friday after attending the funeral of Corey Comperatore, a Pennsylvania firefighter who was shot and killed at a Trump rally outside Pittsburgh last weekend.
“The reason why the president of the United States right now, Donald Trump, the former president and soon-to-be president of the United States, is alive is not because of the Secret Service, but because he, by the will of God, changed his mind,” Roy told “The Ingram Angle,” adding, “That’s true and that’s true the American people are fed up with it.”
Roy also criticized members of the Biden administration, saying the public is “fed up” with leaders retaining their jobs after events such as the assassination attempt and Biden’s 2021 decision to withdraw troops from Afghanistan.
“They’re sick of the FBI. They’re sick of the intelligence community,” he continued. “All of these people still have their jobs, and now the Secret Service is putting our poor president and the sitting Republican candidate at risk, and they’re acting like nothing happened.”
His comments came after 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, killing Comperatore, wounding two other protesters and grazing the former president’s ear with a bullet. Crooks was also shot and killed by a counter-sniper.
The USSS was heavily criticized for what was seen as a lack of security and communication. USSS Director Kimberly Cheatle said the agency “takes full responsibility” for Saturday’s procedures and pointed to “safety factors” (such as the sloping roof of the building where the shooter was lying) that were taken into account when police decided to guard the building from the inside rather than from above.
Cheatle is scheduled to testify before the House Oversight and Accountability Committee on Monday about the security flaws that led to Trump’s near-death experience. He has so far refused to step down despite multiple calls for him to do so.
Roy said it was “absolutely incredible” that the Secret Service failed to notice the attacker flying a drone over the rally just hours before it began. Wall Street Journal reportThis added to the security flaws of the day.
“That’s the solution. We have to stop funding. We have to stop giving these people jobs,” he argued. “We have to hold them accountable.”
“This isn’t just a Secret Service issue,” Roy later added, “it’s the Department of Defense, the Pentagon, the FBI, the CIA, the Department of Homeland Security.”
