WASHINGTON: The Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general has said it is probing the US Secret Service’s handling of security for former President Donald Trump on the day a gunman tried to shoot him at an election rally in Pennsylvania.
The agency in a brief note on its website on Wednesday said the objective is to assess the Secret Service’s “process for securing former President Trump’s July 13, 2024 campaign event”.
There was no date given for when the investigation was started. The notice is among a long list of ongoing cases that the inspector general’s office is investigating.
The shooting has raised many questions about how the shooter was able to climb onto a roof with a clear line of sight of the former president. President Joe Biden already had ordered an independent inquiry into the security at the rally.
The 20-year-old gunman, Thomas Matthew Crooks, was able to come within 135 metres of the stage where the former president was making a speech when he opened fire.
A bloodied Trump was quickly taken off the stage by Secret Service agents, and agency snipers shot the shooter. Trump said the upper part of his right ear was damaged in the shooting. One man was killed, and two others were critically injured in the incident.
Secret Service director Kim Cheatle said the agency understood the significance of the review directed by Biden and would fully participate in it.
She said the agency was working to understand how Saturday’s shooting took place and to make sure something like it never occurred again.
The agency of 7800 staff members is responsible for protecting presidents, vice presidents, their families, former presidents, their spouses and their children.
