WASHINGTON (NewsNation) — U.S. Secret Service personnel are set to brief lawmakers Tuesday on Capitol Hill in a closed-door meeting regarding Saturday’s assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania.
The virtual briefing will occur at some point Tuesday, but Secret Service has not confirmed a time, a source with the House Oversight Committee confirmed to NewsNation.
Lawmakers hope to learn what happened and what went wrong to the point where a former president’s safety was jeopardized.
Cheatle confronts security lapse
Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle confirmed that local police were assigned to cover the building outside the rally perimeter in which Thomas Crooks, who the FBI identified as the shooter, was perched.
Officers were inside the building at the time Crooks was able to scale an outside wall to get to the roof. What isn’t clear is who was watching the outside of the building and how officers missed Crook.
Crooks, 20, was killed by USSS agents just seconds into the attempted assassination.
“The American people deserve to know the truth. We will have Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle and other appropriate officials from DHS and the FBI appear for a hearing before our committees ASAP,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Cheatle took responsibility for the security lapse in an interview with ABC News.
“The Secret Service is responsible for the protection of the president,” Cheatle said. “The buck stops with me. I am the director of the Secret Service. It was unacceptable and it should never happen again.”
Cheatle said she would not resign from her role but would comply with any congressional committees.
Cheatle said her agency is working with all involved federal, state and local law enforcement agencies to understand what happened, how it happened and how they can prevent an incident like the assassination attempt from happening again. She is also scheduled to appear at an open congressional hearing Monday.
Trump’s assassination attempt
The Saturday attack is the most serious attempt to assassinate a president or presidential candidate since Ronald Reagan was shot in 1981.
Law enforcement officials told the Associated Press that bomb-making materials were found inside a vehicle linked to the shooter. There were also bomb-making materials found at his home. The two officials were not authorized to speak publicly and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.
Witnesses told NewsNation affiliates about their experiences, with multiple people claiming they saw Crooks climbing up to the roof of a building outside the rally’s perimeter. Police were allegedly alerted about the armed man, but it’s unclear how law enforcement and the USSS interacted with each other during the event.
NewsNation also learned more about the local police officer who climbed up to the roof but was not able to confront Crooks.
A Butler Township official confirmed he was their officer. They said he ducked when the shooter pointed a rifle at him and he lost his grip and fell.
Assassination attempt investigation
As that probe continues, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer has promised a full investigation, calling on Cheatle to provide information like the names of law enforcement officers involved with the rally security. Comer also asked for all video and audio recordings from the Secret Service to be handed over by Thursday.
A Secret Service source told NewsNation that Trump now has nearly the same level of security coverage as current President Joe Biden.
On Truth Social on Monday, Trump called for independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to also receive Secret Service protection.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said at an afternoon press briefing that in light of the weekend’s events, Biden directed him to provide Kennedy with protection.
The FBI has not determined the motive behind the shooting at the Trump rally, which also resulted in the death of an attendee and serious injury to two others.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.