The preliminary report on the first assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump points to a “litany of failures” by U.S. Secret Service, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) said during an appearance on Breitbart News Daily.
Paul, part of the Homeland Security Committee who helped write the report, explained that it lists “a litany of failures by the Secret Service, one after another.”
“I mean — it’s not just one error. It’s, you know, from the beginning to the end, from preparation through the day of to the minutes before, everything was an error. Everything was a mistake, and I think, unforgivable in the sense that these errors did lead to the tragic death of one of Trump’s supporters,” he said, referencing the tragic death of Corey Comperatore, the Pennsylvania firefighter, husband, and father who died protecting his family from the gunfire.
Paul said the first assassination attempt was an extremely close call on Trump’s life, but then two months later, there was another attempt.
“We haven’t done a full investigation yet. We know in the second assassination that the man sat around for 12 hours polishing his weapon, getting his weapon ready, aiming his weapon, and he’s been doing that for 30 days, looking for a shot to get off of Trump,” the senator said.
“So there’s a level of incompetence that is just beyond the pale. And you know, they have to do better. And we’re going to insist that the mistakes and the people making mistakes are replaced,” he continued, noting that he has not yet seen anything that points to something other than gross incompetence at this point, although he said it is difficult to judge what is going on in people’s minds.
LISTEN:
“I haven’t seen anything other than incompetence — some of it, you know, it’s difficult to judge what is in people’s minds. So for example, for about four to six months before Butler, the Trump Secret Service, as well as the Trump campaign, were asking for more security; one of the things they asked for were counter snipers. They were being denied repeatedly, so it’s a judgment call, but were those counter snipers going to the spouses of other candidates? I think so,” he said.
“Were those counter snipers, maybe just in Washington, not at anybody’s event? Possibly, but they haven’t given us that information. We’ve been asking for six weeks, since Butler, for what security requests were submitted and what were denied, who denied them and why,” he said, noting that he asked acting Secret Service director Ronald Rowe Jr. during their last meeting if he has this information.
“He looked across the table, and I said, ‘Have you seen this information? Have you looked and investigated what was requested and why it was denied, and who denied it?’ He says, ‘Yes.’ I said, ‘How come we haven’t gotten it? We asked six weeks ago, and this is a rare occasion we actually have help, but bipartisan Republicans and Democrats are adamant that we should get this information,'” he said.
Despite that, Paul said everyone can be grateful that the counter snipers happened to be there in Butler that day.
“Had they not been there, imagine what the outcome is. The shooter comes up, takes several shots, but then he keeps going. Instead of eight shots, maybe it’s 18, or maybe it’s 28 shots, and perhaps, as Donald Trump rises again, he has a Secret Service, or being, you know, pelted with another round of bullets. That’s what would have happened if there hadn’t been a counter sniper team there,” Paul said, expressing disgust that requests have been denied “month after month.”
RELATED — Defiant: Bloodied Trump Pumps Fist to Crowd After Assassination Attempt
“Is that an honest mistake, or is that a purposeful mistake? I assume honest, but it’s got to be fixed. Either way we got it, we got to do a better job,” he added.
Breitbart News Daily airs on SiriusXM Patriot 125 from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. Eastern.