BETHAL PARK, Pa. – Senator James Lankford, R-OK, pushed back after the Secret Service blamed local law enforcement for not sweeping the roof where former President Trump’s shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, was stationed.
Lankford, the lead Republican on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Subcommittee, discussed with Fox News Digital the details of the Secret Service and FBI official call with Senators on Wednesday.
The lawmaker said that officials leading the investigation into Trump’s assassination attempt tried to pass the blame by saying that local law enforcement was responsible for the “outer layer” where Crooks was stationed with an AR-15-style rifle.
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Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) gives an interview outside the Fiserv Forum during the third day of the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on July 17, 2024. (NICK OXFORD/AFP via Getty Images)
“They talked about the layering – the Secret Service is the first layer, the second layer is federal law enforcement of multiple different agencies, and that third layer is local law enforcement.”
“We all know that as a structure of how things work on it. But then they try to say, hey, that was the outer layer. That’s really a local law enforcement issue,” he said.
Police snipers set up on a rooftop before former President Donald Trump’s campaign event in Butler, Pennsylvania, Saturday, July 13, 2024. (Todd the Driller)
Lankford said finger-pointing from the Secret Service was a “mistake,” since they are the head agency of responsibility for coordinating all law enforcement agencies.
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“That’s a mistake,” he said. “The Secret Service has responsibility for coordinating all of those things together.”
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump is covered by U.S. Secret Service agents at a campaign rally, Saturday, July 13, 2024, in Butler, Pa. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Lankford said that Secret Service agents were made aware of a “threat” 15 minutes prior to Trump taking the stage.
They should never have allowed the president to step on that stage.
“They were made aware that there was an active search for someone that they thought was a threat,” he said. “Well, at that point, they should never have allowed the president to step on that stage.”
“They should have either figured out if the person was not a threat or picked him up,” he said. “But they chose not to do that. And that has become very, very clear.”
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump is rushed offstage during a rally on July 13, 2024, in Butler, Pennsylvania. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
The Oklahoma senator said that elected officials are now trying to get answers about who made the call for Trump to proceed to take the stage – despite the known threat against him.
“We’re trying to figure out who made that decision,” he said. “Why was that decision made the way that it was?”
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Lankford said that he hopes that the FBI and the Secret Service provide both elected officials and the American public with the department’s mitigation strategy.
“Explain to us the mitigation strategy,” he said. “If there was someone that got on that roof, would they have been able to mitigate the threat?”
“Obviously that didn’t occur, at least, proactively,” he said.
Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle at a press conference on June 4 in Chicago. (Kamil Krzaczynski/AFP via Getty Images)
Lankford revealed that U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle began the discussion by sharing that her team “obviously” made mistakes, and they wanted to be “forthcoming.”
“She started by saying, obviously we made mistakes,” he said. “We made those mistakes, and we’re doing an internal investigation. We’re going to be forthcoming.”
The senator said that despite Cheatle’s opening statement, promising transparency, the director only received a handful of questions and provided a timeline of the incident.
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“If the facts are not being shared, conspiracy theories run wild,” he said. “There’s nothing to combat false information.”
Fox News Digital has reached out to Secret Service spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi for comment.