The United States Secret Service and its parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), are facing a lawsuit from a conservative legal group demanding that they release crucial documents related to the first assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump on July 13th.
As the Daily Caller reports, the lawsuit was filed by America First Legal (AFL), which has requested information from the Secret Service regarding staff shortages, employment standards, and any communications between agents on July 13th, during the first attempted assassination at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Having not received any of the requested documents, AFL says that the agency has been “illegally concealing” the documents in question.
“On July 13, the American people watched in horror as a lunatic attempted to assassinate former President, and current candidate for President, Donald Trump,” said AFL executive director Gene Hamilton in a statement.
“Today, there is widespread and bipartisan acknowledgment that there were catastrophic failures that tragic day and in the weeks and months ahead of it,” he continued. “We are committed to obtaining these records so that the American people can see for themselves exactly what senior DHS leadership was prioritizing in its mission, and why more resources were not devoted to the protection of President Donald J. Trump.”
In July, the Secret Service explicitly refused to process the AFL’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request because “there was no urgency to inform the public about government activity,” due to the fact that “there was no threat to life or safety of anyone” by not releasing the information. But the AFL noted that the agency had granted numerous past requests prior to the most recent refusal.
The lack of investigative action and accountability from the Secret Service and DHS has even drawn the ire of some Democrats. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said on Monday that he is “reaching the point of total outrage because the response from the Department of Homeland Security has been totally lacking.”
“In fact, I think it’s tantamount to stonewalling in many respects,” Senator Blumenthal added. “The Department of Homeland Security has to be more forthcoming, not only to me, but to the American people.”
Following the attempt on July 13th, during which a 20-year-old gunman narrowly missed President Trump’s head, killed one rallygoer, and injured two others before he was killed by the Secret Service, numerous criticisms have been made regarding the Secret Service’s lack of adequate security preparations, coordination with local law enforcement, and communications amongst itself. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle ultimately resigned due to backlash, but questions persist regarding the agency’s failure to secure the rooftop from which the would-be assassin fired the shots, as well as poor efforts to collect evidence and maintain the crime scene after the fact.
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