Whistleblower Says Secret Service Refused To Fly Drones Before Trump Assassination Attempt
A new whistleblower revealed another agency failure by the Secret Service two weeks after former President Donald Trump was wounded by a would-be assassin’s bullet.
On Thursday, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., posted a letter on X addressed to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas outlining the new allegations brough forward from an anonymous whistleblower.
“According to one whistleblower, the night before the rally, U.S. Secret Service repeatedly denied offers from a local law enforcement partner to utilize drone technology to secure the rally,” Hawley wrote. “This means that the technology was both available to [U.S. Secret Service] and able to be deployed to secure the site.”
The Secret Service, however, “said no,” and the whistleblower “further alleges that after the shooting took place, [U.S. Secret Service] changed course and asked the local partner to deploy the drone technology to surveil the site in the aftermath of the attack.”
On Wednesday, FBI Director Christopher Wray confirmed The Wall Street Journal’s reporting last week that the Trump shooter flew a reconnaissance drone roughly 200 yards from the rally fairgrounds in Butler, Pennsylvania, just two hours before the event.
“We think, but we do not know,” Wray told the House Judiciary Committee, “that he was live-streaming, viewing the footage.”
The Wall Street Journal reported Friday the failed assassin was able to fly the drone on a “programmed flight path” which “suggests Crooks flew the drone more than once as he researched and scoped out the event site.”
Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned after the agency chief struggled to answer lawmakers’ questions in a Monday hearing with the House Oversight Committee. The disgraced Secret Service chief told representatives her agency had no radio recordings from agents on the day that she admitted was the “most significant operational failure of the Secret Service in decades.”
NBC News reported the Secret Service was warned about “days” in advance about the building used by the shooter. Cheatle said the roof was left unsecured because it was “sloped.”
“I just don’t think this is partisan,” said Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., on Monday. “If you have an assassination attempt on the president, a former president, or a candidate, you need to resign.”
Cheatle submitted her resignation the next day.
[RELATED: 20 Questions Unanswered After Cheatle Resigns As Secret Service Director]
The House of Representatives voted unanimously Wednesday night to establish a bipartisan commission to investigate the assassination attempt. Democrats are reportedly considering Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., to serve on the panel, even after the Mississippi lawmaker sought to strip Trump of Secret Service protection earlier this year. Thompson also led the Democrats’ partisan Select Committee on Jan. 6 as chairman.
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