U.S. Rep Gary Palmer (R-Hoover) praised the resignation of Secret Service director Kimberly Cheatle on Tuesday while still pushing for answers to numerous unanswered questions he and other lawmakers still have about the failed assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump.
Cheatle resigned after a congressional oversight hearing, during which lawmakers spent nearly six hours grilling her and became increasingly irritated at her lack of transparency and perceived attempts to avoid answering questions.
According to officials, Trump was shot in the ear by 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, who climbed a building nearly 140 yards away at a Trump rally in Butler, Pa., on July 13. Crooks fired multiple shots before being killed by Secret Service counter-snipers.
Crooks shot Trump at 6:12 p.m. local time. At 5:30 p.m., Crooks was spotted by the Secret Service using a rangefinder. At 5:52 p.m., Crooks was seen on the rooftop from which he fired multiple shots. Minutes before the actual shooting, video shared by eyewitnesses showed bystanders yelling and pleading with law enforcement, claiming that Crooks was on the roof and had a gun. Later investigation revealed that Crooks also had two radio-controlled explosive devices in his vehicle.
On a Tuesday appearance on Talk 93.1 "News and Views" with Joey Clark, Palmer applauded Cheatle's resignation after calling her "one of the worst witnesses that we've ever had at a hearing."
"The fact that they left a building less than 150 yards from the podium unsecured with no real overwatch is stunning to me, Joey," Palmer said.
Palmer said during Monday's hearing that one of Crooks' explosive devices was found near a main gas line that could have inflicted massive casualties if detonated. On Tuesday, Palmer made a shocking revelation that Trump's security team did not have access to K-9 units, which are trained to smell and alert police to the presence of explosive devices and their components.
"[Crooks] also had built some IEDs, improvised explosive devices, and I didn't get a chance to ask Director Cheatle this, but I wanted to know why they didn't have K-9 units," Palmer continued. "And I found out today through another source that the president's detail had requested K-9 units. So, the very fundamentals of one of the most competent agencies in the world. It staggers the imagination that there would be this many screwups from an agency that had a 43-year track record of avoiding anything close to this. So it's just like I said, it's unbelievable."
Palmer also said there are plans to initiate an independent investigation of the shooting, which he hopes will have more experts and fewer lawmakers at the helm.
"I talked with [House] Speaker [Mike] Johnson yesterday morning before the hearing and talked with him right before the hearing and there's going to be an independent task force," Palmer concluded. "From my perspective, I really would prefer that we not have a bunch of members of Congress on the task force. Because, and I know this will shock you, but there are a lot of members of Congress that are more interested in getting more media hits than they are getting to a solution. I think we need independent expert investigators that we can trust to handle this. A deep-dive investigation will take months to really get through everything I think we need to get through."
To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email craig.monger@1819news.com.
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