Findings in a report released this weekend by Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, which concluded that the Secret Service’s failure to share threat information allowed the assassination attempt against President Donald Trump last July in Butler, Pa., did not come as “much of a surprise,” Rep. Dan Meuser told Newsmax Sunday.
“There were many, many failures that took place, failures from leadership,” the Pennsylvania Republican said on Newsmax’s “Wake Up America Weekend,” placing blame on then-Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
“Look, everything Mayorkas, Secretary Mayorkas, former secretary, thank God, touched was a disaster,” Meuser said, adding that then-Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle also comes into blame.
“She showed at the hearing that she really didn’t have a grasp of the situation at all,” said Meuser. “Weeks later, she had no understanding of where the couldn’t even identify where the failures were.”
In the report, compiled at the request of Grassley as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, it stated that senior-level Secret Service officials received classified information concerning a threat to Trump’s life 10 days before the July 13, 2024 political rally in Butler, but “failed to relay the information to federal and local law enforcement personnel responsible for securing and staffing the event.”
Meuser said that according to Grassley’s report, the failures “started at the top,” as the protective detail was denied drones or a counter-sniper, which was “only permitted at the very last minute.”
“They did not communicate earlier threats,” he said. “There were staffing issues.”
He also rejected claims made on Newsmax earlier Sunday from a former Secret Service agent that lawmakers are acting like “Monday morning quarterbacks” with their questions about the assassination attempt.
“No, we — I — continue to be angry about what happened,” the congressman said. “Our president was almost assassinated, and the failures were clear. And if staffing was the issue, that should have been relayed. If you can’t defend the president, then we shouldn’t be having the operation and/or the event.”
Meuser, on the day of the shooting, said he was sitting in a front row with Sen. Dave McCormick, R-Pa., and Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Pa., when the shots rang out as Trump was speaking.
“I looked behind me because that’s where I felt the shots were coming from and it turned out it was,” he said. “We were in the direct line of fire. I looked at the president, saw him go down, and I was just angry, you know, I wasn’t hitting the deck, nor were many others. We thought the shooter was maybe right behind us, thought maybe he was in the bleachers.”
“There was initially pandemonium,” Meuser recalled, adding that he did not know if Trump was going to rise up.
“He lifted a nation that day with his fortitude,” said Meuser. “He continues to rise to the occasion for our country. He absolutely does not look back. We have to look back some in order to make sure this never happens again. We can’t take anything for granted, and a lot was taken for granted that day. “
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