The gunman who attempted to assassinate former President Donald Trump on Saturday hid the firearm before the deadly shooting spree, a source with the Secret Service told Fox News on Thursday.
“It was not immediately clear where he hid it, however. By the time agents spotted him on the roof, he was already holding it,” the network reported. “‘We went from golf range finder to AR-15, and now we have to fill in the gap,’ the source told Fox News.”
The shooter was able to fire off multiple rounds, killing one and injuring two others in the crowd. The bullet struck Trump’s ear, after a split-second tilt of his head saved his brain from a direct hit.
The head of the Secret Service has remained defiant amid calls for her resignation after the agency’s many security failures culminated in the near-death of the Republican presidential nominee.
“I do plan to stay on,” Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle pledged in an ABC interview Monday.
Cheatle placed the blame on local law enforcement, who she said were responsible for the security of the building from which the gunman fired. Three counter-snipers were stationed inside the building while the shooter was able to aim clearly at the former president’s head from the roof.
Cheatle said no counter-snipers were assigned to the roof because it was “sloped,” though photos and videos of the nearly flat rooftop show officers walking around on it easily after the shooting. The decision not to station anyone on the rooftop during the rally was made despite Secret Service knowing “days” before the event that the building presented a unique threat, as NBC News reported. According to Channel 11 News, a local Pennsylvania outlet, police had spotted the killer nearly a half hour before Trump was shot.
[RELATED: Any Roofer Worth His Salt Knows Secret Service’s ‘Sloped’ Roof Excuse Is Total Nonsense]
On Wednesday, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., subpoenaed Cheatle to testify on Monday. The House Homeland Security Committee similarly invited Cheatle to appeal before lawmakers next week, but according to Rep. Mark Green, R-Tenn., who chairs the committee, his team has not heard back. Green told The Federalist in a Thursday interview that he plans to subpoena the agency chief if she refuses to volunteer her testimony.
“The list [of questions] is very long,” Green said, including why there was a delayed response to the security threat at Saturday’s rally, why Trump’s team was denied additional resources to keep the former president safe, and why the shooter’s rooftop was left vacant.
On Wednesday, Cheatle was surrounded by several Republican senators at the GOP national convention in Milwaukee who pressed the Secret Service chief for additional answers.
“This was an assassination attempt! You owe the people answers. You owe President Trump answers!” said Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., as Cheatle ran away.
Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, a senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, on Wednesday also announced a probe into the security agency’s recent failures.
“The USSS must provide a complete and thorough accounting to the American people to assure them that the Secret Service is correcting its past problems and is fully and effectively carrying out its core mission: protection,” Grassley wrote to the agency.
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