Rep. Corey Mills (R-Fla.) on Sunday called Saturday’s assassination attempt on former President Trump a “huge failure” by the U.S. Secret Service.
Mills, a former Army sniper, said in an interview on Fox News’ “Jesse Watters Primetime” that it was “divine guidance” that Trump survived the Pennsylvania shooting, and emphasized the gunman’s close proximity to the former president.
“After all, this is the shot that soldiers in basic camp are required to do during their nine-week training period. It’s one of the easiest shots,” Mills said, noting that he underwent similar marksmanship training while working for the State Department.
“At the end of the day, this is such gross negligence that one speculates on what was deliberate and what was not,” he added.
Mills was referring to reports that the alleged shooter, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, was encountered by local police moments before shooting the former president from a rooftop less than 150 metres from the stage.
The Associated Press reported that attendees at the former president’s rally noticed a man on the roof of a nearby building and called local law enforcement, according to two law enforcement officials who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing investigation.
Officers then climbed onto the roof and encountered 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, who pointed a rifle at the officers, according to the Associated Press. When the officers climbed down the ladder, Crooks “immediately opened fire on Trump,” the AP reported.
At that moment, a Secret Service counter sniper reportedly opened fire on Crooks, killing him.
Mills said that as soon as local police encountered the suspect, they should have sounded an alarm that there was an “active shooter on the roof” and alerted investigators. “The Secret Service should have rushed to the stage, immediately removed the president and sent in counter-snipers,” he said.
“The shots should never have been fired. That in itself is a failure,” he said. “The best security is when you can go in and actually prevent an incident, not react after it has happened.”
The interview came as questions remain about how a gunman was able to approach the former president and wound him with an AR-type rifle at Trump’s rally on Saturday, and how he was quickly escorted off the stage by Secret Service agents after a bullet grazed Trump’s ear.
The FBI said Sunday that the shooter appears to have acted alone and that there is no known ideological motive behind what authorities are calling an assassination attempt.
The incident marked one of the most serious breaches in Secret Service security since the 1981 shooting of former President Reagan.
Biden said Sunday he had ordered an independent investigation into security at the rally and called for calm in the wake of the shocking incident.
Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle pledged Monday to “fully participate” in the independent investigation.
