Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has released the names of the members who will lead the independent investigation into the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump.
The independent investigation, which was ordered by President Joe Biden last week, taps former Homeland Security officials who served under previous administrations, as well as law enforcement officials. The panel’s investigation will take place over a 45-day period, according to a press release sent out by the Department of Homeland Security on Sunday evening.
The panel includes former DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano, who served under President Barack Obama; Frances Townsend, former Homeland Security advisor to President George W. Bush; Mark Filip, a former federal judge and deputy attorney general to Bush; and David Mitchell, the former superintendent of the Maryland State Police and former secretary of the Delaware Department of Public Safety and Homeland Security.
“We are committed to getting to the bottom of what happened on July 13, and I am grateful to the distinguished members of this independent review who will bring decades of expertise in law enforcement and security operations to this important investigation,” said Mayorkas in a statement. “This independent review will examine what happened and provide actionable recommendations to ensure they carry out their no-fail mission most effectively and to prevent something like this from ever happening again.”
Mayorkas may invite additional members to the panel in the coming days.
The DHS and the Secret Service have been under increased scrutiny following the shooting at Trump’s Bulter County, Pennsylvania, rally, in which 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks shot the former president, killed one rally attendee, and injured two others.
Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle has been faced with calls to resign in the week since the shooting and is expected to testify in front of the House Oversight Committee on Monday. Cheatle has resisted calls for her to step down, though she did admit that the shooting was “unacceptable” in an interview with ABC News.
“The buck stops with me,” Cheatle said, noting that as the director of the Secret Service, the responsibility to investigate the security lapses falls on her. “I need to make sure that we are performing a review and that we are giving resources to our personnel as necessary.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), who is among the Republicans calling on Cheatle to resign, announced on Monday that he plans to create a special task force to consolidate congressional investigations.
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The Secret Service admitted on Saturday that it had denied requests from the former president’s team for increased security and resources.
“In some instances where specific Secret Service specialized units or resources were not provided, the agency made modifications to ensure the security of the protectee,” U.S. Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi told the Washington Examiner. “This may include utilizing state or local partners to provide specialized functions or otherwise identifying alternatives to reduce public exposure of a protectee.”
