Regarding the abject security failures resulting in an attempted assassination of Donald Trump on July 13, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) has been contacted by Secret Service personnel with direct knowledge of the event. He says, “Whistleblowers tell me that MOST of Trump’s security detail working the event last Saturday were not even Secret Service. DHS assigned unprepared and inexperienced personnel.”

In a letter to Biden’s inept DHS secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, Hawley notes: “I write to raise concerns brought to me by whistleblowers about your department’s stunning failure to protect former President Trump on July 13, 2024. As Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS), you are ultimately responsible for your agency and its components, including the U.S. Secret Service (USSS). According to the allegations, the July 13 rally was considered to be a ‘loose’ security event.”

He continues: “For example, detection canines were not used to monitor entry and detect threats in the usual manner. Individuals without proper designations were able to gain access to backstage areas. Department personnel did not appropriately police the security buffer around the podium and were also not stationed at regular intervals around the event’s security perimeter. This is especially concerning given that HSI agents were unfamiliar with standard protocols typically used at these types of events, according to the allegations.”

Hawley concludes: “Unfortunately, your department has not been appropriately forthcoming with Members of Congress — abruptly ending the only call with USSS before most senators could even ask a question. This is completely unacceptable and contrary to the public’s interest in transparency.”

Hawley list questions he is demanding Mayorkas answer:

1. How did DHS determine to staff the event, including any decision to rely on state or local officers?

2. What percentage of the DHS agents at the event were from HSI rather than USSS? Were a majority of officers at the event drawn from HSI or other DHS components, rather than USSS? If so, why?

3. Were HSI agents properly trained in staffing these types of events?

4. Did gaps exist in the security perimeter, and were the usual protocols followed for the use of canines and magnetometers?

5. Were agents not appropriately stationed around the podium?

6. Were the standard protocols followed for issuing designated pins to vetted personnel that are allowed backstage?

7. How long did agents physically spend on the ground surveying the site before the event? Did any paperwork obligations prevent a longer and more robust site survey?

Former Secret Service agent Dan Bongino affirms Hawley’s assessment: “Actively communicating with a number of former colleagues from the Secret Service about the assassination attempt. … The failures are profound and questions must be answered about ground surveillance, air surveillance, post-stander support, and counter-sniper advance work and response.”

Based on his connections with current agents, he says, “I want to repeat, and can absolutely confirm, the USSS Director Kim Cheatle has repeatedly turned down requests for a larger security footprint around President Trump. Despite knowing the threat level is catastrophic.”

He concludes, “We’re trained out to 1,000 yards in the Secret Service with the counter-sniper team. How did they miss someone at most one-fifth of the way there? It doesn’t make any sense. And even worse, it’s broad daylight on a white roof. … To let a sniper 150 yards away from the potential next president…”

Oh, and there is another question Sen. Hawley needs to add to his list.

In my analysis of this attack, I questioned whether counter-sniper teams and other security personnel utilized drones to enhance the security perimeter, a typical protocol for an outside venue to ensure rooftops and other high grounds are clear of any threat. We do not have an answer to that question, but one question Josh Hawley should now ask is: “Why was the assailant able to fly his own drone over the rally site just hours before his assassination attempt?”

That’s right. Astoundingly, in yet another security breach, we have confirmed that the assailant flew his own drone over the Butler Farm Show grounds area, scouting out his shooting field just hours before he shot Trump.

Responding to that report, Donald Trump Jr. says of this security breach, “I was once prevented flying MY OWN drone off of the beach at Mar-a-Lago by USSS because my father was inside the house…”

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has called for “a full investigation,” but good luck getting any straight answer or an ounce of accountability out of Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle, much less Mayorkas, who is personally responsible both for the flood of illegal immigrants coming across our open southern border and the violence they commit against American citizens, but who has not been held accountable.