Tag Archives: Hearing

Members of bipartisan House task force investigating the Trump assassination attempts point to Secret Service, not local authorities, as responsible for failures

Attempted Assassination Hearing

Important Takeaways:

  • Lawmakers repeatedly questioned why the agency tasked with protecting the country’s top leaders didn’t do a better job communicating with local authorities during the July 13 rally, particularly when it came to securing the building that was widely agreed to be a security threat but that ultimately was left so unprotected that gunman Thomas Michael Crooks was able to climb up and open fire on Trump.
  • The panel — comprised of seven Republicans and six Democrats — has spent the last two months analyzing the security failures at the rally, conducting nearly two dozen interviews with law enforcement and receiving more than 2,800 pages of documents from the Secret Service.
  • Edward Lenz, commander for the Butler County Emergency Services Unit who was in charge of the local tactical units operating at the Butler rally, said his agency was never asked to put a sniper team on top of the roof and never said that they would. Lenz said the Secret Service knew their shooters were inside the AGR Building and there was no “feedback or guidance” from the Secret Service that they wanted the team anywhere else.
  • Lenz also testified that Secret Service officials did not check with him or his team to make sure they were in place before Trump went on stage and that the emergency communication for July 13 had not been worked out in advance.
  • Thursday’s session was the fourth congressional hearing about the Butler shooting since July.

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Hearings to Defund Planned Parenthood Begin

The first hearing in Congress about the defunding of Planned Parenthood took place Wednesday.

The hearing was titled “Examining the Horrific Abortion Practices at the Nation’s Largest Abortion Provider” by the House Judiciary Committee.  More hearings are expected through the fall spurred by the undercover videos that show Planned Parenthood selling baby body parts.

The chairman of the committee, Rep. Bob Goodlatte of Virginia, opened the session with a call for a ban on all abortions after five months to “help ensure that the body parts of late-aborted babies cannot be sold because late-term abortions would be generally prohibited.”

Republicans on the panel cited the multiple videos released by the Center for Medical Progress showing the behind the scenes actions of Planned Parenthood when it came to abortions.  The videos appear to show Planned Parenthood engaging in illegal activities.

“Planned Parenthood and its executives must answer for the alleged atrocities brought to light in the videos by the Center for Medical Progress,” Constitution and Civil Justice Subcommittee Chairman Trent Franks of Arizona said.

Planned Parenthood reps claimed they have done nothing wrong.

“While all of these congressional investigations are based on false claims and videos that have been completely discredited, we continue to be fully transparent and cooperate with all of the committees,” said spokesman Eric Ferrero.