A CNN host challenged a Secret Service spokesperson following the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump over the weekend, emphasizing that the incident “raises a lot of questions” about the agency’s security procedures. Reports indicate that CNN crime and justice correspondent Shimon Prokupecz repeatedly questioned agency officials but did not receive satisfactory answers, pushing for greater transparency for the American public.
In an unusual news conference, the agency revealed that it had been preparing for a year to secure this week’s Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. However, they failed to mention the bullet that grazed former President Trump’s ear or the one that killed 50-year-old Corey Comperatore.
When Agent Audrey Gibson-Cicchino, the Secret Service agent in charge of coordinating security at the Republican National Convention, opened up the floor for questions, Prokupecz demanded to know why the agency had gone silent following the attack in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday.
I don’t understand why it is that you have one of the most significant events in the Secret Service’s history and no one from the Secret Service has publicly decided to take questions about what happened,” the CNN correspondent said. The FBI today openly giving us an on-the-record briefing about their investigation, and yet we still have not heard from anyone from the Secret Service about what happened, about what the agency knew, about the [security lapse.] I just don’t understand how anyone could think that that’s OK.
The most Gibson-Cicchino could provide was to suggest that Prokupecz direct his questions to leadership officials in Washington, D.C. This, however, did not satisfy the crime reporter.
Right, but this is the first time where anyone at the Secret Service has publicly even spoken to the media since this happened,” he pressed. There was a public press conference last night that the Secret Service was not at. State officials and the FBI were there but yet the Secret Service was absent. It just raises a lot of questions about why the Secret Service is not willing to answer questions.
Again, the agent referred Prokupecz to her superiors.
The Secret Service is currently facing intense scrutiny after the attempted assassination, and it has now come to light that warning signs were missed before the attack. Just The News reported.
Long before the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump on Saturday night such focused a harsh light on the Secret Service, the presidential security agency was already facing difficult questions about its capability, training, recruitment and emphasis on diversity.
Secret Service agents reportedly were even circulating a petition raising questions about their management a few weeks ago.
Those questions are now certain to receive intense new attention after video footage showed a gunman who managed to scale a building less than 200 yards from Trump, get to a shooting perch with a rifle and fire several rounds before being neutralized by a Secret Service sniper team at the event Saturday night in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Some witnesses claimed that they alerted authorities to a man climbing on the roof before the shooting.
How could you have somebody on the rooftop?” asked House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, who was shot by a would-be assassin and far-left Bernie Sanders supporter in 2017 during a practice session ahead of the annual congressional softball game. There are reports that people watched him climb up the roof and even alerted authorities, and we’re going to be looking into that.
I mean, we’re going to have hearings on this, you know, how could you have somebody on the rooftop? There are reports that people watched him climb up the roof and even alerted authorities, and we’re going to be looking into that. How could that happen with all the authorities around that they miss something so clear that the shooter was able to get that kind of line of sight just 150 yards away from the stage?” he told Fox News on Saturday.
