First appeared on FOX: A former senior Department of Homeland Security official and FBI agent is calling for a bipartisan commission to investigate the assassination attempt on former President Trump, arguing that the public has lost trust in federal agencies.
Mark Morgan served as acting director of Customs and Border Protection under the Trump administration, and has a 20-year career with the FBI, including as a SWAT officer, tactical instructor, and with the FBI’s Major Incident Response Group.
He spoke to Fox News Digital on Tuesday about the ongoing investigation into Saturday’s assassination attempt.
“There is a reality that we must face, whether you’ve been involved in these agencies before or are currently involved in these agencies. … American trust in the Department of Justice, the FBI and Congress has plummeted over the last few years. That’s the reality,” Morgan said.
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Republican presidential nominee and former president Donald Trump pumps his fist as he is pushed into a car during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 2024. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
The assassination attempt has prompted a bipartisan congressional investigation into how a gunman got so close to Trump and fired multiple shots at the former president. The chairmen of the House Oversight and Homeland Security committees have called on agency heads to explain. In the Senate, Homeland Security Chairman Gary Peters and Ranking Member Rand Paul have announced they will look into the incident. President Biden has ordered an independent investigation into the incident, and the FBI is investigating.
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“The problem is, while the investigations will continue, the public does not trust that these agencies will conduct comprehensive investigations and come up with a set of meaningful recommendations on what needs to be done better. And I don’t believe the American public trusts that there will be any meaningful accountability for those involved in what is clearly a massive security failure,” Morgan said.
The director of the Secret Service this week called the shooting “unacceptable” and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas called it a “failure” by the agency. But Morgan said he would have resigned already if he were the head of the agency.
Acting Commissioner of Customs and Border Protection Mark Morgan speaks to reporters in the James Brady Briefing Room at the White House in Washington, DC, on October 8, 2019. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
“In my opinion, if I were the director of the Secret Service, I would have already submitted my resignation and given it to the president. But just like with the secretary of Homeland Security, their egos don’t let them do the right thing,” Morgan said.
Morgan said he would like Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), a former chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, to lead the committee.
“He has experience. He led the House Homeland Security Committee on the Senate side. He knows the Department of Homeland Security, he knows how it operates, he knows how the Secret Service operates, and I think he has the credibility of both parties in Congress,” Morgan said.
He also said the committee should include experts from multiple administrations.
“But let’s create a true bipartisan committee and look at this from start to finish, because right now we have congressional committees doing their jobs. We have the inspector general for Homeland Security and the Secret Service doing their jobs. The FBI is investigating the shooting,” Morgan said.
“So there are a lot of different stovepipe phenomena that are going on, and they’re all quite separate. That’s why I think the committee will be dealing with them all together.”
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“So I’m not saying stop any one of these, but what I am saying is that the commission will act as an umbrella to bring them all together and put together a complete and comprehensive report on all the circumstances around that,” he said.
He also said the committee could look at the Secret Service as a whole, including its methodologies.
“This is clearly a necessary sign and validation. So I don’t think it’s going to happen as long as these individual groups are doing their own thing. But most importantly, the American public is not going to have confidence in any of these groups, no matter what they report.”
