LIVE: Secret Service chief questioned over security failures before Trump assassination attempt

Alanna Durkin Richer and Farnoush Amiri, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Secret Service head is group to attest Monday earlier a legislature committee arsenic calls equine for her to resign complete information failures astatine a rally wherever a 20-year-old gunman attempted to assassinate erstwhile President Donald Trump.

The House Oversight Committee proceeding will beryllium Kimberly Cheatle’s first quality earlier lawmakers since nan July 13 Pennsylvania rally shooting that near 1 spectator dead. Trump was wounded successful nan receptor and 2 different attendees were injured aft Thomas Matthew Crooks climbed atop nan tile of a adjacent building and opened fire.

Lawmakers person been expressing anger complete really nan gunman could get truthful adjacent to nan Republican statesmanlike nominee erstwhile he was expected to beryllium cautiously guarded. The Secret Service has acknowledged it denied immoderate requests by Trump’s run for accrued information astatine his events successful nan years earlier nan assassination attempt.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has called what happened a “failure” while respective lawmakers person called connected Cheatle to resign aliases for President Joe Biden to occurrence her. The Secret Service has said Cheatle does not intend to measurement down. So far, she retains nan support of Biden, a Democrat, and Mayorkas.

Before nan shooting, section rule enforcement had noticed Crooks pacing astir nan edges of nan rally, peering into nan lens of a rangefinder toward nan rooftops down nan shape wherever nan president later stood, officials person told The Associated Press. An image of Crooks was circulated by officers stationed extracurricular nan information perimeter.

Witnesses later saw him climbing up nan broadside of a squat manufacturing building that was wrong 135 meters (157 yards) from nan stage. He past group up his AR-style firearm and laic connected nan rooftop, a detonator successful his pouch to group disconnected crude explosive devices that were stashed successful his car parked nearby.

The onslaught connected Trump was nan astir superior effort to assassinate a president aliases statesmanlike campaigner since Ronald Reagan was changeable successful 1981.

It was nan latest successful a bid of information lapses by nan agency that has drawn investigations and nationalist scrutiny complete nan years.

Authorities person been hunting for clues into what motivated Crooks, but truthful acold person not recovered immoderate ideological bent that could thief explicate his actions. Investigators who searched his telephone recovered photos of Trump, Biden and different elder authorities officials, and besides recovered that he had looked up nan dates for nan Democratic National Conventional arsenic good arsenic Trump’s appearances. He besides searched for accusation astir awesome depressive order.