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The Secret Service was grappling with “limited resources” ahead of the assassination attempt of Donald Trump at a campaign rally last Saturday, Republican lawmaker Jim Jordan has claimed.
Law enforcement and congressional investigations are underway into potential lapses in the former president’s security detail.
The shooting last Saturday left two people, including the gunman, dead. Spectator Corey Comperatore, 50, a former fire chief, died after shielding his family from the gunfire. Two people were seriously injured.
On Thursday, House Judiciary Committee chair Jim Jordan wrote in a letter to FBI director Christopher Wray said he had received information from “whistleblowers”.
Jordan’s letter referenced a July 8 briefing in which a Secret Service agent allegedly told law enforcement partners that the security service was facing “limited resources” as its teams were spread out across marquee events including the recent NATO summit in Washington.
Jordan’s allegations did not specify whether limited resources had any impact on staffing or plans ahead of Trump’s rally.
The Independent has contacted the Secret Service and FBI for comment.
Secret Service spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi has pushed back on theories that the agency could have done more in the lead-up to the assassination attempt.
Guglielmi said claims that the Secret Service rebuffed a request from the Trump team for additional security were “untrue” and theories that an event for First Lady Jill Biden diverted resources were “very wrong.”
The shooting, where local police encountered the gunman outside of the event and later on the roof of a building, is the subject of multiple investigations.
Critics have argued that once law enforcement were aware of a suspicious man on a nearby rooftop, the event should’ve been paused or canceled. “They should have just evacuated as soon as there was any hint of danger,” Ronald Kessler, author of a book about the Secret Service, told The Associated Press.
The FBI is probing the incident along with the House Judiciary Committee and Secret Service.
