Tag Archives: Thomas Matthew Crooks

Conservative legal watchdog group suing U.S. Secret Service and Department of Homeland Security over first Trump assassination attempt

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Important Takeaways:

  • Lawmakers, legal groups urge government to release first assassination attempt documents
  • A conservative legal watchdog group is heading to court to get the U.S. Secret Service and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to explain how gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks had been able to “fire a relatively simple shot that came within an inch of killing President Trump and struck fellow Americans.”
  • In a lawsuit filed Thursday, America First Legal (AFL) alleges that the Secret Service and DHS illegally concealed government records related to the attempted assassination in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13. The organization claims it submitted multiple public records requests about the incident but still has not received any documents.
  • AFL requested documents pertaining to the Secret Service’s staffing shortages, hiring and employment standards and all communications to or from Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and two senior DHS officials, Kristie Canegallo and Jonathan Davidson.
  • According to AFL, the Secret Service said it would not process their expedited public records’ requests because there was “no threat to the life or safety of anyone” and that there was no urgency to grant their request.
  • Lawmakers on Capitol Hill — both Republican and Democratic — have also been trying to obtain documents from government agencies related to the events that unfolded that day and what security lapses may have occurred.
  • In light of the second attempted assassination of Trump’s life at his golf course in Florida last week, AFL said in it statement: “There is no denying that President Trump currently faces genuine threats, and AFL’s requests would help to ensure that USSS and DHS leadership are sufficiently trained and staffed to ensure the safety of President Trump.”
  • “The American people and Congress need total transparency,” the group said.

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Director of the Secret Service steps down

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Important Takeaways:

  • The director of the Secret Service is stepping down from her job, according to an email she sent to staff, following the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump that unleashed an intensifying outcry about how the agency tasked with protecting current and former presidents could fail in its core mission.
  • Kimberly Cheatle, who had served as Secret Service director since August 2022, had been facing growing calls to resign and several investigations into how the shooter was able to get so close to the Republican presidential nominee at an outdoor campaign rally in Pennsylvania.
  • “I take full responsibility for the security lapse,” she said in the email to staff Tuesday. “In light of recent events, it is with a heavy heart that I have made the difficult decision to step down as your director.”
  • The 20-year-old shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, was able to get within 135 meters (157 yards) of the stage where the former president was speaking when he opened fire. That’s despite a threat on Trump’s life from Iran leading to additional security for the former president in the days before the July 13 rally.

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