Homeland Security Secretary Appoints Independent Panel To Review Assassination Attempt On Trump

Washington: US Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has appointed a bipartisan, independent panel to review the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump on July 13. Senior officials confirmed the reports saying that the panel members will have “extensive law enforcement and security experience to conduct a 45-day independent review of the planning for and actions taken by the US Secret Service and state and local authorities before, during, and after the rally”. They further added that the panel will also review the US Secret Service's governing policies and procedures.

The Department of Homeland Security, in a statement, said that the first people named to the panel are former Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, Frances Townsend (former Homeland Security adviser to President George W Bush), Mark Filip (a former federal judge and deputy attorney general to President George W Bush) and David Mitchell (former Secretary of the Department of Public Safety and Homeland Security for the state of Delaware).

Additional Experts Could Also Be Asked To Join Group

Further, it has been stated that additional experts could also be asked to join the group in the coming days.

The panel will have 45 days to review the policies and procedures of the Secret Service before, during and after the rally on July 13 where a gunman fired at Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania.

“We formed this bipartisan group to quickly identify improvements the U.S. Secret Service can implement to enhance their work. We must all work together to ensure events like July 13 do not happen again,” members of the independent review panel said in a joint statement.

Secret Service Director Kim Cheatle welcomed the review.

Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle faced withering criticism from Republicans and Democrats alike in her first testimony about the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump, with lawmakers furious over her unwillingness to answer questions about the security failures at the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

Cheatle told members of the House Oversight Committee that the attack was the "most significant operational failure" for the Secret Service in decades, and repeatedly said she takes full responsibility for the security lapses.

She earlier asserted, “The US Secret Service is continuing to take steps to review our actions internally and remain committed to working quickly and transparently with other investigations, including those by Congress, FBI and the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General.”