Who was supposed to secure the building where the shooter fired from? DHS secretary responds

(NEXSTAR) – Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, in an interview with CNN on Monday morning, responded to a report that the U.S. Secret Service did not sweep the building that a shooter had climbed before attempting to assassinate former President Donald Trump at Saturday’s campaign rally in Pennsylvania, but rather left the job to local law enforcement.

Speaking with CNN host Kate Bolduan, Mayorkas initially said he was waiting for the findings from an independent investigation, but then indicated that state and local authorities often assist the Secret Service at such events.

“In campaign events, historically and now, including the conventions themselves, we work collaboratively with our federal partners as well as with our state and local partners. These are very, very significant undertakings, and we work seamlessly and closely with our partners across the national security, homeland security enterprise,” Mayorkas told Bolduan, in part.

He also said Homeland Security — under which the Secret Service operates — would defer to an independent investigation before taking any action.

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A source for the Secret Service told NewsNation that the agency had assigned local authorities to sweep the building. Bolduan told Mayorkas that a spokesperson for the Secret Service had provided that same information directly to CNN.

Butler County District Attorney Richard Goldinger, meanwhile, told NewsNation that Secret Service was “in charge of this security,” but admitted that another agency may have also been involved.

Mayorkas’ comments come after U.S. Rep. Mark E. Green (R-Tenn.) — the chairman of the Homeland Security Committee — sent a letter to the DHS secretary on Sunday demanding a list of documents and details concerning what he called a serious “security failure” surrounding Saturday’s event.

“The seriousness of this security failure and chilling moment in our nation’s history cannot be understated,” Rep. Green wrote in the letter. “No assassination attempt has come so close to taking the life of a president or presidential candidate since President Reagan was shot in 1981.”

Among the documents Green requested were those which outlined the U.S. Secret Service’s plan for securing the rally site, as well as the building from which the shooter fired at Trump. Green also demanded details of Secret Service (USSS) rules of engagement, and any correspondence between members of the DHS, the USSS or the Executive Office of the President concerning Trump’s security detail over the last 19 months, among other items.

These documents were requested by “no later” than Friday, July 19; Green said the committee also wants an additional briefing on Saturday’s assassination attempt by the following Monday.

Green, in his letter, added that he had seen reports claiming the Trump campaign had requested additional security measures for Saturday’s rally, but the Secret Service had denied those requests. A representative for the USSS called any such reports “untrue” and “absolutely false.”

“In fact, we added protective resources & technology & capabilities as part of the increased campaign travel tempo,” Anthony Guglielmi, the chief of communications for the Secret Service, said Sunday.

Mayorkas, in his interview with CNN, too denied that any requests from Trump’s team concerning additional security were refused. He also ultimately referred to Saturday’s security lapse as a failure, but only after being asked twice by the anchor Kate Bolduan.

“When I say that something like this cannot happen, we are speaking of a failure,” he said.

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