Officials in Butler, Pennsylvania, claim the Secret Service has announced it will be guarding the complex where an attempted assassin named Thomas Matthew Crooks shot former President Donald Trump on July 13.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, addressed the local police allegations in a letter to Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe on Tuesday.
“Butler County law enforcement officers stated that on several occasions during their patrols, they repeatedly expressed concerns to agents and counter-snipers about security at the AGR complex, to which agents responded, 'We'll take care of it,'” the report said. Grassley wrote:.
Grassley said local officials had raised concerns about security in the area “multiple times” during the July 11 investigation. First reported From Fox News.
“Butler County law enforcement officials informed Secret Service counter-sniper officers that they did not have enough personnel to guard the buildings at the AGR compound and requested that the entire area be 'locked down,'” the Iowa Republican further explained.
Shortly after the assassination attempt that killed rally-goer Corey Comperatore and injured Trump and two others, Butler County District Attorney Rich Goldinger and others The Secret Service had been informed that local police did not have the manpower to guard the building.
Crooks, 20, crawled to the roof of a building and fired eight shots, including one that grazed Trump's right ear and left him bleeding, before being killed by a counter-shooter.
Grassley called on Rowe to verify whether the local police claims were true.
Neighbors who live near the Butler Farm Show site previously told The Washington Post that they had not been visited by local or federal law enforcement before or during the rally.
“Nobody contacted us. Nobody. Nobody called. Nobody stopped by,” said Valerie Fennell, who lives behind the venue.
“My house is close by, so I honestly thought this might be part of the command center one day.”
Grassley noted that Lowe testified at the July 30 hearing that “what was communicated was that local residents had plans and had been there before.”
The senator gave Rowe a September 24 deadline to respond to the letter and slammed the conservation agency for refusing to respond to previous requests for information.
“This is unacceptable behavior, fails to respect Congress' constitutional mandate to provide independent oversight, and is contrary to your testimony before Congress regarding your dealings with Congress,” the senator asserted.
Following the Butler assassination attempt on President Trump, Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned under pressure.
Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, was arrested Sunday and later charged with two counts of federal weapons offenses for allegedly setting up a sniper nest around the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach while the former president was playing golf.
Routh's plan was foiled when a Secret Service agent on an advance patrol spotted a rifle barrel protruding from the brush and opened fire.
Rowe has publicly called for more resources and said Monday that security demands during an election period “limited the powers” of investigators.
Since July 13, there has been bipartisan frustration among lawmakers about a lack of information from the Secret Service and its parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security.
“I'm completely outraged by the totally inadequate response from the Department of Homeland Security,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., told reporters on Capitol Hill on Monday.
“In fact, I think in many ways it amounts to sabotage.”
The Secret Service did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
