House Republican leaders are calling for accountability following Saturday’s assassination attempt on former President Trump.
“I think there’s a lot of questions that need to be answered, but I don’t know who’s responsible. I don’t know what broke, but I do know that there was a break. But we need to find out who’s responsible and hold people accountable,” House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) told Fox News Digital.
Richard Hudson, a Republican and chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, said the shooting was likely the result of a “serious breakdown in law and order.”
“One of my first reactions as I watched this on TV was outrage: How could this happen? How could someone with a gun get onto a roof overlooking the stage so close to a former president?” Hudson told Fox News Digital.
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Republican candidate Donald Trump was photographed being escorted off stage at a campaign event at the Butler Farm Show in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13, 2024, with blood running down his face and surrounded by Secret Service agents. (Rebecca Droke/AFP via Getty Images)
“I’m no security expert, but I do have some knowledge of rifles and scopes, and it was very close range. And the fact that the rooftop was available to the perpetrator doesn’t make sense to me. So I want to hear what happened.”
A 20-year-old gunman opened fire from a rooftop near a Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, over the weekend, killing one attendee. Two others were seriously injuredAfter being shot in the ear, Trump crouched behind the podium and was then dragged off the stage by Secret Service guards.
But the situation has left lawmakers questioning how the gunman was able to get so close to the heavily secured area, where he was seen climbing the building and opening fire, and where heavily armed police were reportedly also present.
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House Majority Whip Tom Emmer called for accountability. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-Louisiana, have both called on Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle to resign.
Emmer and Hudson stopped short of going that far, telling Fox News Digital on the sidelines of the Republican National Convention that they wanted to see what details emerge before passing judgment.
FBI Director Christopher Wray held a briefing for members of both the House and the Senate and for the entire Congress on Wednesday to discuss lawmakers’ questions and concerns.
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Rep. Richard Hudson, the House Republican campaign chairman, said he wanted to know how the shooter got close to the rally’s borders.
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A source familiar with the House call said the call lasted about 45 minutes and that lawmakers were not satisfied with Wray and Cheatle’s answers.
Sources said Johnson is due to hold a classified briefing for MPs when the House of Commons returns next week.
Fox News Digital reached out to the FBI and Secret Service for comment but had not heard back at the time of publication.
