Homeland security chief calls Trump shooting a security ‘failure’

WASHINGTON – Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said on July 15 that

the attempted assassination of former president Donald Trump

was a “failure” of security, as the Secret Service confronts scrutiny over its efforts to protect government officials.

“An incident like this cannot happen,” Mr Mayorkas told CNN.

He added: “When I say something like this cannot happen, we are speaking of a failure.”

The comments, from the head of the department that oversees the Secret Service, came after President Joe Biden called for an “independent review” of the security planning for the Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, where the shooting occurred on July 13.

The Secret Service is facing intense questions over the security perimeter at the rally, which did not include a warehouse roof where the would-be assassin fired shots at Trump.

The gunman, a

20-year-old from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania

, was killed.

The Secret Service has said the warehouse, where the shots came from, was outside its perimeter, meaning that local law enforcement was responsible for sweeping and securing the building.

But former federal law enforcement officials have said the Secret Service – whose foremost responsibility is protecting current and former US leaders – should have ensured that the building was secured before the rally.

The agency often relies on local law enforcement for security at events.

Mr Mayorkas also rejected accusations from some Republicans that his department had denied a request by Trump’s security detail for more resources from the Secret Service.

“That’s a baseless and irresponsible statement, and it is one that is unequivocally false,” he said.

Later on July 15, addressing reporters at the White House, Mr Mayorkas offered few details of the independent review Mr Biden had ordered but committed to it being conducted “externally of the government”.

He said that since the shooting, Trump’s Secret Service protections had been “enhanced” and “adjustments” had been made to those of Mr Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris.

He said Mr Robert F. Kennedy, an independent presidential candidate, would for the first time be granted Secret Service protection.

Mr Mayorkas also expressed support for the agency and its director Kimberly Cheatle, saying: “I have 100 per cent confidence in the director of the United States Secret Service.”

Privately, some agents have complained that Ms Cheatle has not been seen prominently since the shooting. On the morning of July 15, Ms Cheatle released a statement saying that the agency was coordinating with the protective details of Trump and Mr Biden.

“Secret Service personnel on the ground moved quickly during the incident, with our counter-sniper team neutralising the shooter and our agents implementing protective measures to ensure the safety of former president Donald Trump,” Ms Cheatle said in the statement.

She added that the agency was working with federal and local law enforcement to “understand what happened, how it happened and how we can prevent an incident like this from ever taking place again”.

The Secret Service would cooperate with any congressional investigations, she said.

On July 14, the Secret Service sent a memo to its agents reminding them to retain text messages sent around the time of the shooting, according to two law enforcement officials who dictated the memo to The New York Times.

The Homeland Security’s inspector-general found in 2022 that text messages sent and received by Secret Service agents around the time of the Jan 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol had been erased. NYTIMES