“The question is, should he have anticipated what happened? That remains an open question,” President Joe Biden said in a televised interview Monday night. He applauded the actions of agents who “risked their lives” during the shootings, and said he felt “safe with the Secret Service.”
The mystery persists over the mobile phone of the attacker, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, who was killed by law enforcement. Armed with a semi-automatic rifle, he fired several times from the roof of a building about 150 meters from the Republican presidential candidate during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday.
Donald Trump was injured in this and said that the top of his ear was “pierced” by a bullet. The photos of the former president with blood on his face, with his fist raised, have already gone down in history, writes AFP.
A spectator was killed and two others seriously injured following the assassination attempt.
The Secret Service has faced ever-increasing pressure since then, although Democratic President Joe Biden, according to his spokeswoman, has confidence in its director, Kimberly Cheatle.
Charged among other things with protecting the president and former presidents, the Secret Service will cooperate “with all local, state and federal agencies involved to understand what happened, how it happened, and how we can prevent such an event from happening again.” produces,” Kimberly Cheatle said in a statement.
“We understand the importance of the independent review announced yesterday (Sunday – no) by President Biden and we will fully participate,” she added.
Joe Biden announced on Sunday that he had ordered an “independent” investigation into the circumstances of the assassination attempt on Donald Trump, whom he is going to face in the November 5 election.
His Homeland Security Secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, said Monday that this review would begin “as soon as possible” and that it was a matter of “days.” The conclusions will be public and “it is very important that this independent examination has the trust of the population”, he insisted.
Joe Biden also stated on Sunday that he asked the head of the Secret Service to review “all security measures” established for the convention of the Republican Party, which takes place in the north of the country from Monday to Thursday.
Kimberly Cheatle said she was “confident” in the convention plan, which was “revised and strengthened after” Saturday’s events.
The Secret Service must especially provide explanations after the broadcast of video recordings of some people present at the rally who noticed the presence of the author of the assassination attempt on the roof and tried to alert the law enforcement. According to an analysis by the Washington Post, 86 seconds passed between these first public alerts and the shots that targeted Trump.
The CNN channel reported on Monday that this building the attacker climbed up on was not checked by the Secret Service, which would have relied on local law enforcement to ensure security in that place.
Or according to NBC News, this roof had been identified by the Secret Service as presenting a “potential vulnerability”.
“You don’t need to be a security expert to find the deficiencies,” criticized Ohio Republican Mike Turner, head of the House Intelligence Committee, on CNN.
The fact that the attacker “was able to fire when his position had already been identified is simply baffling and astounding,” he said.
On Monday, on his Truth Social platform, Donald Trump said it was “imperative” that the Secret Service provide protection to another presidential candidate – Robert F. Kennedy Jr – whose uncle, President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, and father, Democratic candidate Robert Kennedy, were assassinated.
This will be done, according to Alejandro Mayorkas, who announced that Joe Biden has ordered that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. be placed under protection. “Thank you to President Biden,” the latter reacted.
Agerpres
Source: jurnalul.ro
