The House’s top investigator said he will demand answers from the Secret Service after former President Donald Trump was shot during a campaign rally Saturday.
“There are many questions and Americans demand answers. I have already contacted the Secret Service for a briefing and am also calling on Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle to appear for a hearing,” said Republican Rep. James Comer of Kentucky, chairman of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee.
And allies of Mr. Trump are questioning why his opponents want to put his life in more danger by writing legislation that would remove his Secret Service protection.
Mr. Trump said on social media that his right ear was struck by a bullet during the shooting. Photos showed him with a bloody right ear and blood streaked across the side of his face as he was hustled off the stage by Secret Service agents.
The agency said the shooting suspect was not inside the rally but fired from “an elevated position” from outside the venue.
“U.S. Secret Service personnel neutralized the shooter, who is now deceased. U.S. Secret Service quickly responded with protective measures and Former President Trump is safe,” said Anthony Guglielmi, the agency’s chief spokesperson.
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The agency said one person attending the rally was killed and two others were critically wounded.
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, whose department oversees the Secret Service, said he and Ms. Cheatle personally briefed President Biden about the shooting.
“We are engaged with President Biden, former President Trump, and their campaigns, and are taking every possible measure to ensure their safety and security,” Mr. Mayorkas said. “Maintaining the security of the presidential candidates and their campaign events is one of our department’s most vital priorities.”
Mr. Trump gained Secret Service protection in late 2015 during his first presidential campaign. He has had it since, including his time in the White House and then as a former president and now as the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.
America First Legal, an outfit made up of former senior officials from the Trump administration, said Saturday it had filed an open-records request to determine if the Homeland Security Department rebuffed requests for enhanced Secret Service protection for Mr. Trump.
Alex Pfeiffer, spokesman for the Make America Great Again Inc. super PAC, excoriated Democratic lawmakers who supported a bill authored by Rep. Bennie G. Thompson of Mississippi that would strip Secret Service from any protectee convicted of a felony.
“Leading Democrats introduced legislation intended to strip President Trump of Secret Service protection,” Mr. Pfeiffer wrote on X. “They did that at the same time as Joe Biden called President Trump a ’dictator,’ and Nancy Pelosi said President Trump ’must be stopped.’”
Last April, key Democrats revealed new legislation that would strip former Mr. Trump of his Secret Service agents if he was convicted of a felony and sent to prison.
Mr. Thompson, the top Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee, said the legislation was intended to clarify who had custody of Mr. Trump in the event he went to prison.
“My bill would not have affected the Secret Service’s presence during this tragic event. It aims to clarify lines of authority when a protectee is sentenced to prison and is in the custody of another law enforcement agency. That does not apply to the former President,” he said.
A Manhattan jury in May convicted Mr. Trump on 34 counts of falsifying business records. His sentencing has been postponed until Sept. 18.
Mr. Thompson, at the time he introduced the legislation, said he was concerned that a Secret Service protective detail could lead to accommodations for a former president in prison.
“It is regrettable that it has come to this, but this previously unthought-of scenario could become our reality,” the Mississippi lawmaker said. “Therefore, it is necessary for us to be prepared and update the law so the American people can be assured that protective status does not translate into special treatment — and that those who are sentenced to prison will indeed serve the time required of them.”
The bill has seen no action in the GOP-controlled House.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
• Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.
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