One year after a shooter injured then-candidate Donald Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, Sen. Rand Paul called for congressional oversight of the Secret Service, complaining of a “cultural cover-up” that he claimed masked critical security failures before the attack.
The Kentucky Republican, chair of the Homeland Security Committee, told CBS’ Margaret Brennan on “Face the Nation” that “somebody was begging” for security in both writing and phone calls but was repeatedly denied resources by the Secret Service.
“They did not want to assess blame or look internally, and they wanted to discount any of their actions that may have led to this,” Paul said. “There was no way the director of the Secret Service did not know the request had been made.”
The breakdown in security led to Trump’s ear being grazed by one of the bullets. Fire chief Corey Comperatore was killed, and two others were wounded before a Secret Service sniper fatally shot 20-year-old Thomas Crooks. Former President Joe Biden called for investigations into the Secret Service soon after the deadly incident, and at least one found “deep flaws” in the organization. Meanwhile, congressional Republicans accused the former director of the Secret Service, Kimberly Cheatle, of lying under oath when she denied that those requests existed, a point Paul repeated Sunday.
A new report from the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs found that the Secret Service had “denied or left unfulfilled at least 10 requests” for additional resources for Trump.
In a statement released Sunday, Cheatle said she is agrees “mistakes were made and reform is needed.”
However, she said, she did in fact direct additional assets including counter-snipers to be provided last July.
“Any assertion or implication that I provided misleading testimony is patently false and does a disservice to those men and women on the front lines who have been unfairly disciplined for a team, rather than individual, failure,” Cheatle said.
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) in a separate interview on Sunday blamed the Biden administration for the security failure.
“The report from the [Government Accountability Office], as well as the Senate reports, indicate that there were serious failures in communications and the allocation of resources,” Cotton said on “Fox News Sunday.” “Under the Biden administration, the Secret Service simply was not responsive to the request not only of the Trump campaign, but the head of his security detail, Sean Curran, who is now the head of the Secret Service as well.”
Paul said that regardless of party identification, the rallies posed “extraordinary risk” for their sheer size. Such events, he added, require a lot of detailed planning and organization.
But when individuals were subpoenaed, Paul said, “no one would actually admit to being in charge of security for Butler.”
“They were not going to discipline anybody until I subpoenaed and asked what they had done, but in the end, nobody was fired,” Paul said. “I think even the investigation by the Secret Service was inadequate. That’s why we need congressional oversight.”
