One-Year Anniversary of Trump Assassination Attempt

Floor Speech

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Mr. GRASSLEY. Madam President, on July 13, 2024, an assassin nearly killed President Trump. The gunman injured him and two rally participants and killed Corey Comperatore. We keep him and his family in our prayers as well as everyone affected that day. Today, 1 year and 1 day later, I come to the floor to provide an update on my ongoing oversight of that attempted assassination.

The day of the shooting, I launched an investigation focused on gathering and releasing information to the public. I didn't want the public to be kept in the dark. Public transparency stops conspiracy theories. Sixty years after JFK's assassination, we still have questions being asked. Unfortunately, there are still aspects to that shooting where the government hasn't been transparent.

The Biden administration stonewalled my oversight requests. I strongly urge the new administration to let all the facts breathe, unlike the last administration.

The day of the shooting, my oversight unit quickly got to work. They talked to patriotic whistleblowers. They performed dozens of witness interviews, including local law enforcement officials, rally goers, and local businesses. My staff obtained and reviewed weeks' worth of security footage, text messages, pictures, law enforcement briefing materials, after-action reports, and other records. They also obtained police body camera footage that provided the first video of what happened in the aftermath of that shooting. I made it all public.

At the time, my investigative work unveiled the most detailed picture of the Trump assassination attempt. As part of my oversight, I asked the Department of Homeland Security inspector general to review the matter. I also requested that the Government Accountability Office do the same as I asked the inspector general to do. The American people wanted answers. They wanted accountability in the aftermath of this tragedy. I worked hard to do just that, and I know there is more work to be done.

This past weekend, the Government Accountability Office produced to me its report on the July 13 assassination attempt. The Government Accountability Office report starts by stating:

The U.S. Secret Service failed to implement security measures that could have prevented the assassination attempt on then-former President Donald J. Trump during a July 13, 2024, campaign rally.

According to the report, prior to the July 13 rally, Secret Service received information from the intelligence community about a threat against President Trump's life. Yet this threat information wasn't shared with Secret Service personnel or local law enforcement officials--all responsible for securing that event. Clearly, had all Federal, State, and local law enforcement officials known of this threat, it would have changed how they secured the AGR building where the sniper opened fire from.

As I previously made public, Secret Service and its local partners had cell phone issues on July 13. The Government Accountability Office report found that the Secret Service didn't have a policy to assess cellular service at the site even though communication is key during any major event like this. This resulted in the Secret Service not receiving real-time threat information and updates during the search for the gunman. Every delayed second in finding the gunman meant that he was one step closer to carrying out his evil objective.

I previously made public documents showing that the Secret Service had issues with a counterdrone system at the rally. The Government Accountability Office confirmed my previous oversight. GAO found that the Secret Service's counterdrone operator lacked the training, knowledge, and support to fix and operate the counterdrone system. According to the Government Accountability Office report, these problems occurred because the Secret Service didn't follow its own requirements that personnel must complete training before operating a counterdrone system.

The GAO report says the Secret Service said that using a counterdrone is like ``turning on a flashlight.'' Yet the counterdrone did not work, and the Secret Service could not fix it. Had a counterdrone been operating as planned, it could have identified the shooter's drone and even the shooter.

The Government Accountability Office's report also found that the Secret Service planned to use farm equipment to address a line-of-sight issue when securing the AGR building. Before the rally, a campaign staffer asked Secret Service to modify the plan, and the advance team did as the staffer requested.

But they didn't notify senior officials overseeing the rally of these changes. If they had, the senior officials might have overruled them.

While the report says the Secret Service has made changes to correct some of these problems, they still have more work to do. The Secret Service operates in a zero-fail mission, and they don't have room for any error.

Every failure exposed by the Government Accountability Office report must be turned into positive changes in the Secret Service. I want my colleagues to know that I will be riding hard on them until I am satisfied the job is done.

I want to close out by thanking the law enforcement officers serving on the frontlines, including the Secret Service, Capitol Police, their law enforcement partners, and, of course, their families--all working hard and sacrificing to keep the public and the government safe.

I am grateful to you all and do not, in the future then, take the days that seem uneventful for granted.

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