U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas announced on Sunday that he appointed a panel to lead an independent review of the would-be assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump.
The bipartisan panel will consist of four people: former President George W. Bush's Homeland Security Adviser Frances Townsend, former Bush administration federal judge Mark Filip, retired Maryland State Police Superintendent David Mitchell, and former DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano.
The panel will be given 45 days to review the policies and procedures regarding the Secret Service prior to the assassination attempt on Trump.
There will be “extensive law enforcement and security experience to conduct a 45-day independent review of the planning for and actions taken by the U.S. Secret Service and state and local authorities before, during, and after the rally, and the U.S. Secret Service governing policies and procedures,” the Department of Homeland Security stated.
The review focuses on “identifying improvements the U.S. Secret Service can implement to enhance their work.”
“All Americans share a concern about the safety of our public officials," panel members said. “We must all work together to ensure events like July 13 do not happen again.”
Secret Service Director Kim Cheatle expressed her full cooperation with the department’s review as she faces immense scrutiny for how the agency performed during an assassination attempt on one of the most high-profile public figures in the country.
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“We are eager to cooperate with the independent security review of the U.S. Secret Service’s action related to the July 13 assassination attempt of former President Trump in Butler," Cheatle stated on Sunday. "I look forward to the panel examining what happened and providing recommendations to help ensure it will never happen again.”
Following the would-be assassination, it was revealed that there were significant security breaches before and after that could have left Trump bleeding out on stage.
In a resurfaced video, Cheatle admitted she pushed for DEI initiatives within the agency and vowed to hire more women despite their lack of qualifications. One of the agents on stage with Trump at the time of the shooting was a woman who could later be seen fumbling with her holster.
On Monday, Cheatle will testify before the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, where she will be forced to explain how a sniper crawled on a roof just 150 meters from Trump without law enforcement noticing.
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