with Few details are still known about Thomas Matthew CrookesA member of the House task force investigating the attempted assassination of former President Trump, a potential assassin, says the FBI is not being forthcoming in its investigation.
Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Florida, a member of the bipartisan assassination task force, appeared on “Fox News Sunday” with fellow task force member Rep. Madeleine Dean, D-Pennsylvania, to discuss the group's investigation. US Secret Service failures during the Fourth of July rally In Butler, Pennsylvania, where Crooks fired continuous gunfire from a rooftop that was unstoppable.
While both Waltz and Dean said the blame for the failures rests on the shoulders of the USSS, which has taken full responsibility, Waltz praised the fact that the agency was forthcoming in the investigation while the FBI – even two months after the assassination attempt – was not.
“The Secret Service has been open about its failures to provide communications guidance to local people with proper command posts. On the other hand, the FBI is completely blocking this task force,” Waltz said.
In July, FBI Director Christopher Wray initially told House lawmakers that “there is some question about whether it was the bullet or the shrapnel that struck his ear.”
Two days later, the bureau issued a statement saying: “What struck former President Trump's ear was a bullet, whether whole or fragmented into smaller pieces, that was fired from the decedent's rifle.”
Waltz said he would like to see Wray and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas hold a press conference, like the one the USSS recently held.
“We still know virtually nothing about the crook who shot Butler, his encrypted accounts, how he learned to build IEDs,” the congressman said.
On Thursday, Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisconsin, the ranking member of the permanent subcommittee on HSGAC investigations, said some of the documents the FBI provided to lawmakers were “heavily redacted.”
“I have never seen anything like it,” Johnson told reporters that,
The July 13 shooting at a Trump rally has increased scrutiny of the USSS, and prompted discussion about whether elected officials are being adequately protected in today’s hyper-partisan environment.
Waltz said another point of “growing bipartisan frustration” with the FBI involves Iran, particularly the regime’s multiple plots to kill Trump and its hacking of Trump campaign information, which it then shared with the Biden-Harris campaign.
“And when asked about this behind closed doors, the FBI has not provided us with any information to the Intelligence Committee,” Waltz said. “Just this week. That is completely unacceptable and we need to issue those subpoenas.”
Dean said it was “appropriate” for the task force to investigate the second apparent assassination attempt against Trump, which occurred Monday at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, and he condemned all political violence.
“I want to set a baseline: There is no place for political violence in this country,” the congresswoman said.
