Mayorkas Defends DEI, Skirts Questions on Failed Trump Security

U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas is facing serious questions from members of Congress over the failed assassination attempt on Donald Trump on July 13.

And while he has yet to answer questions about how an identified threat was allowed to scout out the venue via a drone, climb onto a rooftop just 150 yards away from a presidential candidate and actually fire shots at Trump before being stopped, Mayorkas has boldly weighed in by issuing a statement regarding women in law enforcement.

the shooter used a drone to scout president trump’s speech venue, hung out there all day with a gun + explosives, climbed onto a roof 150 yards from trump, was an inch away from killing him, and mayorkas issues a statement about people being mean to female secret service agents https://t.co/0aYKXNk5XI

— Ashley St. Clair (@stclairashley) July 20, 2024

Instead of addressing the growing cascade of failures that nearly allowed the assassination of a former president and current candidate, Mayorkas released an impassioned statement denouncing public statements that questioned whether the Secret Service was more concerned about diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) or actual protection.

Mayorkas called accusations that the Secret Service was cutting corners on its protective detail for Trump “baseless and insulting” and attempted to recast the concerns over astonishing official incompetence as an attack against women “serving in federal, state, local, tribal, territorial, and campus law enforcement.”

Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) says he has spoken with whistleblowers who said that the DHS dispatched officers who were unfamiliar with security protocols and treated the Butler, Pennsylvania rally as a “loose security event.”

Agents weren’t prepared to protect Trump on Saturday – whistleblowers say many weren’t even part of the Secret Service

DHS dispatched officers who weren’t familiar with security protocol

Mayorkas & Secret Service director both need to resign pic.twitter.com/OzhJy93aQ8

— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) July 20, 2024

Mayorkas had previously responded to claims by Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL) that Trump’s Secret Service was denied requests for increased resources by saying that Waltz’s statement was “an irresponsible statement that is unequivocally false.” A follow up story in the Washington Post showed that Mayorkas’ claim was not true.

Once again Mayorkas has MISLED the public.

On CNN he called my statement that President Trump’s detail was DENIED repeated requests for stronger secret service protection “an irresponsible statement that is unequivocally false”.

Now WaPo is citing officials that I was CORRECT,… https://t.co/jPWYzLntWb

— Rep. Mike Waltz (@michaelgwaltz) July 20, 2024

Earlier today, Mayorkas announced the appointment of an “independent review panel” which will conduct a 45 day investigation into the attempt on former president Trump’s life. Among the four panelists named is former DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano who has been a highly outspoken critic of Trump.

Whether those panelist will get to the truth of what happened in Butler, PA remains to be seen, but it seems a safe bet that the right DEI boxes will have all been checked .