Ahead of a scheduled House Oversight Committee hearing with the director of the Secret Service about the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump, a former special agent tells WTOP that he has questions of his own.
As an agent, Matthew Doherty was involved in the security detail for five presidents, and is now a managing director for workforce risk management at Sikich, an advisory group.
When it comes to the level of Secret Service protection, he said he wants to know if former President Trump was classified by the agency as a former president or as a presidential candidate, which would afford Trump additional security resources.
“Technically, he’s not a candidate nominee until the convention,” Doherty said. “But it’s not like 12 candidates were being protected and coming into the convention wondering who’s going to get the nomination.”
Doherty also wanted to know why a rooftop only several hundred feet away from the rally stage in Pennsylvania was unmanned by the agency or law enforcement.
“The outer perimeter is alarming, and there should be some questions asked about why that rooftop wasn’t covered — and some answers given,” he said.
Doherty added that ahead of the rally, there should have been a radio check to ensure a police officer or a Secret Service agent was manning every rooftop in the perimeter.
Secret Service director Kimberly Cheatle said in a statement Monday that she would be fully cooperating with an investigation announced by President Joe Biden and will be working with the appropriate Congressional committees on any oversight action.
House Oversight Committee Chair Rep. James Comer (R-KY) said Cheatle is scheduled to brief committee lawmakers on Monday, July 22.
Secret Service snipers killed the alleged shooter, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, but not before he shot Trump in the ear, killed a spectator and critically injured two others.
While lawmakers and the public await answers, Doherty said the agents on stage should be commended for their quick work, whisking the former President to safety.
“I think it was commendable and heroic, and they did their job,” he said. “And it’s what they were expected and trained to do.”
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