Exclusive — Rep. Ashley Hinson on Trump Assassination Attempt: ‘Huge Failure by the Secret Service’

The assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump was a “huge failure by the Secret Service,” Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-IA) said during an interview with Breitbart News Washington bureau chief Matthew Boyle at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, making it clear that there will be “rigorous oversight” by congressional Republicans.

Hinson, who heard the news before an event in her home state on Saturday, said her first thought was to pray for Trump.

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“I knew if anybody could survive something like that, it’s him. And I think we all saw him get up and show that typical Trump strength, right? And I think he handled that exactly how he should. I mean, I thought about what would happen if I was in that situation. And I can’t — I can’t believe how strong he was,” she said, adding that Trump instinctively knew he needed to “signal to the American people that they couldn’t take him out.”

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“I think it was a huge failure by the Secret Service,” the congresswoman said, revealing that there is going to be “rigorous oversight” by the Oversight Committee.

“We just had a members call yesterday from the Republican House conference, and we’re going to be conducting rigorous oversight here. They’re going to be before the Oversight Committee next week. … I serve on the Homeland Security appropriations committee, so we’re absolutely going to be asking those questions, because it’s American taxpayer dollars that are funding these entities,” she said.

“I hope it was only incompetence, right? I think every American hopes that there wasn’t something greater in play here,” she said, emphasizing the importance of this independent investigation, as they need to “make sure we get to the root of problem here.”

“Most importantly, you know, we can’t change what happened on Saturday, and unfortunately, an American did lose their life on Saturday, and several others were hurt. But we cannot allow this to happen going forward. I mean, look how close we were to an event that would have not galvanized our country, but I think created more chaos and dysfunction, ” the congresswoman said.

“I think we need to be judicious about getting the right facts. I trust my colleagues. Jamie Comer is an amazing chair. He’s going to get the answers to these questions,” she continued.

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“They need to be doing their job,” she said of Secret Service.

“They need to protect our presidents, right?” she emphasized, explaining that she spoke to her two young boys about “the magnitude of what President Trump was able to do after that” attack against him, which could have cost him his life.

“Not only the grace under fire, but that he is not afraid to fight,” she said, as Trump has been someone who has been fighting since he first decided to run for president in 2015. He has been “vilified by the left, and they continue to push forward that inflammatory rhetoric that’s false about President Trump,” the congresswoman said.

“President Trump loves this country. I clearly see that. … And so I’m hopeful that all Americans are galvanized behind the future of our country, because it is bright,” she said, stressing that Trump has clearly demonstrated that he is willing to take “those arrows for us — quite literally, arrows and bullets.”