An important Ops Report with details on the plan to protect former President Donald Trump at his Pennsylvania rally was not made available to Congress.
Lawmakers were reportedly denied access to the written plan according to one unnamed lawmaker who was at the FBI briefing on Wednesday, according to Fox News.
“If there was no Ops Plan done, or if it didn’t cover that rooftop, whoever signed off on it failed badly,” said Paul Mauro, an attorney and retired NYPD inspector who added that the report “should detail who was supposed to cover the area of the roof that (Thomas Matthew) Crooks fired from.”
Maura revealed that a source “I absolutely, 100% trust” indicated the FBI had the written plan in its hands as of Thursday.
“This was something very, very badly planned,” Mauro said.
“Just the idea that they had Trump in a car, and couldn’t get the car off the grounds because it was locked is unbelievably irresponsible,” he added, referring to the scene in the aftermath of the assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania on Saturday.
He indicated that there typically is a vehicle designated for the hospital and an evacuation plan in place with a driver who can take a quick and direct route to emergency care. Maura noted that it “tells me that this thing was done very casually, very under-resourced and there was no managing mind over the whole thing.”
“There wasn’t an incident commander. Nobody was really in command. Maybe on paper, there probably was, but whoever it was was asleep at the switch,” he added.
On the questions, failures of the Secret Service at the Trump rally in Pennsylvania:
“Give us the OPS PLAN, or at the very least, give it to the senators.” pic.twitter.com/3jx5BNIy4w
— Sandy 〽️ (@RightGlockMom) July 18, 2024
The fact that the Secret Service seemed to point a finger at local law enforcement and members of Congress are being blocked from seeing the plan has Mauro thinking they’re in “cover your a– mode.”
“There’s a lot of culpability, and this idea that, oh, the locals blew it, that idea is already starting to fall apart,” he said.
The House Oversight Committee led by Rep. James Comer (R-KY) is set to hold a hearing on Monday in which lawmakers will grill Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle, who was subpoenaed by the committee.
“It is good that Comer immediately announced that he would have oversight looking at this and that he was going to be using the House’s subpoena power because you need somebody looking over the shoulder of the task force investigating this,” Mauro said. “Realistically, they can say they’re doing it in conjunction with the Pennsylvania State Police, blah, blah, blah, but the FBI is doing this, and I’m sorry … I don’t trust their leadership.”
The Department of Homeland Security Office of the Inspector General said it is beginning a “review to examine the process implemented by the United States Secret Service (USSS) to secure” Trump’s rally.
The Secret Service Counter Sniper Team “preparedness and operations” will also be under review.
“Our objective is to determine the extent to which the Secret Service Counter Sniper Team is prepared for, and responds to, threats at events attended by designated protectees,” the OIG said in a statement, adding that it “continues to consider other reviews related to USSS (United States Secret Service) programs and operations that may arise. DHS OIG will coordinate its reviews with other law enforcement partners, as appropriate.”
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Originally from New York, Powers graduated from New York University and eventually made her way to sunny South Florida. Powers also contributes to BizPac Review.
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