Secret Service will participate in independent review of Trump assassination attempt, director says

The U.S. Secret Service plans to “participate fully” in an independent review of the assassination attempt against former President Trump, Director Kimberly Cheatle said in a Monday statement.

Cheatle said the agency would also work with Congress “on any oversight action” committees plan to take.

“The Secret Service is working with all involved Federal, state and local agencies to understand what happened, how it happened, and how we can prevent an incident like this from ever taking place again,” Cheatle said.

“We understand the importance of the independent review announced by President Biden yesterday and will participate fully. We will also work with the appropriate Congressional committees on any oversight action,” she added.

The statement comes amid mounting questions over how a gunman was able to get close enough to the former president to injure him with an AR-style rifle at Trump’s Saturday rally – when a bullet grazed Trump’s ear and he was promptly rushed offstage by Secret Service agents.

The FBI said on Sunday that the gunman — identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks — appears to have acted alone and there was no known ideological motive behind what officials are calling the attempted assassination.

The incident marked one of the most significant lapses in Secret Service security since former President Reagan was shot in 1981.

Biden, on Sunday, said he directed an independent review of the security at the rally and called for cooler heads to prevail following the shocking event.

Members of Congress similarly called for prompt hearings into the incident, and some called for Cheatle to resign.

“The seriousness of this security failure and chilling moment in our nation’s history cannot be understated,” House Homeland Security Committee Chair Mark Green (R-Tenn.) said in a letter Sunday to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.