First appeared on FOX: A group of House Republicans is accusing the US Secret Service of a “pattern of neglect” amid the fallout from the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump.
Republican Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona sent a letter to Interim USSS Director Ronald Rowe sounding the alarm about a recent report suggesting the service could face negative revelations in the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Inspector General’s upcoming report on the January 6th attack on the Capitol.
“It is incomprehensible that an assassin could have entered a poorly secured building in direct view of the rally stage and shot President Trump. It is equally incomprehensible that the U.S. Secret Service identified the building as a potential vulnerability and then publicly failed to include that vulnerability or secure the roof,” the lawmakers wrote, referring to the July 13 shooting at a Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
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Rep. Andy Biggs sent a letter to Interim Director of the U.S. Secret Service Ronald Rowe. (Getty Images)
Then the letter Politico Report“According to published reports, the Secret Service is in possession of a draft report from the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General (DHS OIG) that focuses on the Secret Service’s preparations for and response to the events of January 6, 2021,” it said.
“The article specifically states that the release of the report ‘could expose a series of embarrassing security failings at the agency,'” the letter said.
“Congress and the American people have a right to understand whether the security lapses at the July 13, 2024 rally were part of a larger failure by the Secret Service.”
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Former President Trump is surrounded by Secret Service agents after a shooting at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Republicans are asking Lowe to submit by July 31 a summary of the findings of the Department of Homeland Security’s oversight report and recommendations to the Secret Service, as well as how those measures were implemented before the shooting at the Trump rally.
The letter was also signed by Reps. Eli Klain (R-Ariz.) and Harriet Hageman (R-Wyo.).
The Secret Service has been under intense scrutiny after a 20-year-old gunman killed one rallygoer, seriously wounded two others, and Trump himself was shot in the ear and escorted off the stage by security.
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The backlash led to the resignation of former director Kimberly Cheatle last week after a fiery hearing before the House Oversight Committee.
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Lowe testified before the Senate under similar pressure on Tuesday, telling lawmakers on the Homeland Security and Judiciary committees that the shooting at the rally was a “failure” of his agency.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the Secret Service for comment.
