Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) revealed on Friday that whistleblowers informed his office that former President Donald Trump’s Saturday campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania— where he was nearly assassinated — was considered a “loose” security event and was staffed by mostly non-Secret Service personnel.
Hawley disclosed the information in a July 19 letter to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, writing:
Whistleblowers who have direct knowledge of the event have approached my office. According to the allegations, the July 13 rally was considered to be a “loose” security event. For example, detection canines were not used to monitor entry and detect threats in the usual manner. Individuals without proper designations were able to gain access to backstage areas. Department personnel did not appropriately police the security buffer around the podium and were also not stationed at regular intervals around the event’s security perimeter.
Hawley also said whistleblowers suggested that the majority of the DHS officials at the rally were not United States Secret Service (USSS) agents but were instead drawn from the DHS’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), a law enforcement agency inside the DHS, according to the agency’s website.
Hawley wrote to Mayorkas, “This is especially concerning given that HSI agents were unfamiliar with standard protocols typically used at these types of events, according to the allegations.”
He slammed the DHS — which encompasses the Secret Service — for not being “appropriately forthcoming with Members of Congress.” He noted that a Secret Service briefing given to senators on Wednesday was ended abruptly before most senators could ask a question.
“This is completely unacceptable and contrary to the public’s interest in transparency,” he wrote. “Instead, we have learned more from whistleblowers than your department’s officials.”
He asked Mayorkas to provide answers to the following over the next seven days:
1. How did DHS determine to staff the event, including any decision to rely on state or local officers?
2. What percentage of the DHS agents at the event were from HSI rather than USSS? Were a majority of officers at the event drawn from HSI or other DHS components, rather than USSS? If so, why?
3. Were HSI agents properly trained in staffing these types of events?
4. Did gaps exist in the security perimeter, and were the usual protocols followed for the use of canines and magnetometers?
5. Were agents not appropriately stationed around the podium?
6. Were the standard protocols followed for issuing designated pins to vetted personnel that are allowed backstage?
7. How long did agents physically spend on the ground surveying the site before the event? Did any paperwork obligations prevent a longer and more robust site survey?
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