Congress to formally investigate Secret Service

Listen to this article

House Speaker Mike Johnson announced Tuesday that Congress is moving forward with a formal Secret Service investigation.

“The security failures that allowed an assassination attempt on Donald Trump’s life are shocking. In response, @RepJeffries and I are announcing a House Task Force made up of seven Republicans and six Democrats to thoroughly investigate the matter. The task force will be empowered with subpoena authority and will move quickly to find the facts, ensure accountability, and make certain such failures never happen again,” Johnson posted to X on Tuesday.

Americans from the left and the right are coming together like never before since 9/11t o condemn the Secret Service’s failure to prevent an assassination attempt against President Trump in Pennsylvania on July 13.

Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle took questions from both Republican and Democrat lawmakers on Monday as a House panel grilled her.

Cheatle admitted “we failed,” taking full responsibility for July 13, but then refused to resign, despite calls from lawmakers.

Members of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee acknowledged that Republicans and Democrats don’t often see eye to-eye on issues, but on Monday they both agreed Cheatle’s lack of answers and accountability was unacceptable.

Cheatle said she couldn’t answer questions because it would revel “sensitive methodologies,” and didn’t want to provide inaccurate information.

Cheatle repeatedly failed to answer the panel’s questions and at one point even said was unable to provide details about how the shooter was able to access a roof near the rally site, or how the rifle came to be on the roof.

However, Cheatle recommitted to seeking the truth as to what happened on July 13.

“I have instructed my team that all necessary resources will be dedicated to investigating this matter. We will not rest until we have explored every option and we will leave no stone unturned,” Cheatle said, noting she wasn’t waiting until the investigation is completed to implement new security plans for the Democratic Convention in Chicago and the 2025 inauguration.

As previously reported by the Wisconsin Law Journal, when a man in a gray suit walked up a ladder to the rooftop at President Trump’s Pennsylvania rally on July 13, local Pennsylvania law enforcement allegedly believed the man was a member of the United States Secret Service, according to a recent FOX News report.

However, that man was the would-be assassin of President Donald Trump, reports Maria Bartiromo with FOX News.

“@SenRonJohnson reveals apparent Secret Service agent was on the roof of the building after the shooter was killed. Local law enforcement was also told to text an ATF agent photos of the shooter. Who is this person and why was he there?” U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson‘s spokesperson, Kiersten Pels, posted to X on Sunday.

Sen. Johnson also told Bartiromo that the Secret Service did not participate in a 9 a.m. security meeting on July 13. He also noted the local law enforcement was not on same communications channel.

On July 20, Johnson recommitted to seeking the truth about what happened on July 13 during the assassination attempt of Trump.

“We need to interview witnesses and whistleblowers to provide evidence to get to the truth of what happened before, during and after the assassination attempt on President Trump,” Sen. Johnson posted to X on July 20.

The Secret Service denied requests for more security at Trump events, The Washington Post reported on July 20.

Top officials at Biden’s U.S. Secret Service repeatedly denied requests for additional resources and personnel sought by Republicans in the two years leading up to Trump’s attempted assassination at the rally in Pennsylvania, according to four people familiar with the requests, according to The Washington Post.

“Those rejections — in response to requests that were several times made in writing — led to long-standing tensions that pitted Trump, his top aides and his security detail against Secret Service leadership, as Trump advisers privately fretted that the vaunted security agency was not doing enough to protect the former president,” The Washington Post reported.

As previously reported by the Wisconsin Law Journal, the Secret Service admitted the Biden-lead agency denied multiple requests by Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s campaign for increased security at his events in the years before the assassination attempt on him at a recent rally.

Also as previously reported by the Wisconsin Law Journal, Republican members of Congress literally chased after Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle at the RNC in Milwaukee last week demanding answers and accountability.