Connect with us
[bsa_pro_ad_space id=12]

International

Hawley: Whistleblowers say Trump’s security detail was unprepared, inexperienced

Published

6 minute read

From The Center Square

Senate committee holding bipartisan investigation, hearing

Multiple whistleblowers have come forward telling U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., that many working as part of former President Donald Trump’s security detail at a rally in Pennsylvania one week ago weren’t Secret Service and were “unprepared and inexperienced personnel,” Hawley says.

The accusation comes after the U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, on which Hawley sits, announced it will conduct a bipartisan investigation into the July 13 assassination attempt of Trump.

Multiple whistleblowers contacted his office “with disturbing new information behind the assassination attempt on the former president,” he said.

They did so after Hawley opened a whistleblower tip line, pledging to protect the anonymity of everyone who contacts his office. Whistleblowers are encouraged to make protected disclosures by calling (202) 224-6154 or emailing [email protected].

In response to the information he has received so far, Hawley contacted Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who oversees the U.S. Secret Service, demanding answers.

“Whistleblowers who have direct knowledge of the event have approached my office. According to the allegations, the July 13 rally was considered to be a ‘loose’ security event,” he wrote to Mayorkas.

“Whistleblower allegations suggest the majority of DHS officials were not in fact USSS agents but instead drawn from the department’s Homeland Security Investigations. This is especially concerning given that HSI agents were unfamiliar with standard protocols typically used at these types of events, according to the allegations.”

Other security failures identified, he says, include not using canine units to monitor entry and detect threats among the perimeter or crowd; unauthorized individuals accessing the backstage areas; and DHS personnel not “appropriately polic[ing] the security buffer around the podium and … not stationed at regular intervals around the event’s security perimeter.”

Hawley demanded answers after DHS “has not been appropriately forthcoming with members of Congress,” he said, and after he called on the committee’s chair, U.S. Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., to immediately launch an investigation.

“Although we still do not have all the facts, the little that we do know suggests a staggering security failure,” he wrote to Peters. “Evidently, the shooter was able to gain an elevated position on a rooftop with a clear line of sight of the President, well within accurate range, with a firearm. The details of this tragedy must be vigorously investigated by Congress, including the motive of the shooter, and the serious operational failures that occurred on July 13.” Hawley called on Peters to “launch a full, public, and comprehensive committee investigation into this assassination attempt and failures to adequately protect the former president,” including calling Mayorkas and Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle to testify.

Peters and U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-KY, the ranking member of the committee, announced the committee will conduct a bipartisan investigation and hold a hearing. They first requested an urgent briefing with the Secret Service, DHS and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. A call committee members did have, Hawley says, was ended before they could ask a single question. “This is completely unacceptable and contrary to the public’s interest in transparency,” he added.

Peters said the committee “is focused on getting all of the facts about the security failures that allowed the attacker to carry out this heinous act of violence that threatened the life of former President Trump, killed at least one person in the crowd, and injured several others.”

Peters and Paul also sent letters to Mayorkas and to FBI Director Christopher Wray requesting a range of documents and information on security process, among other information. A briefing was requested before July 25 and a public hearing is scheduled for Aug. 1.

Hawley is also demanding answers from BlackRock CEO Larry Fink requesting all records related to the assassination attempt after it became public that the alleged shooter appeared in one of BlackRock’s commercials.

What appears to be a clip of the commercial “has circulated widely on social media and raised the question about what your company knows about the shooter,” Hawley told Fink.

Fink is requested to provide the information by July 24.

When accepting his party’s nomination for president, Trump said at the Republican National Convention last week that surviving the assassination attempt was “a gift from God.” At a rally on Saturday, one week after the shooting, he said he “took a bullet for democracy.”

Honest reporting on election integrity

Election coverage without political spin matters. Every day The Center Square equips voters with facts so they can make informed decisions before they head to the polls this year. That’s where you can help.
Published by the nonprofit Franklin News Foundation, The Center Square depends on your tax-deductible contributions to keep this nonpartisan, free-press journalism alive. Every day, our journalists break news stories about political leaders’ claims versus their track records, ethics investigations, and election security that other outlets either politicize or ignore.
This election season, support fact-based news today!

Todayville is a digital media and technology company. We profile unique stories and events in our community. Register and promote your community event for free.

Follow Author

Daily Caller

Sweeping Deportations to Begin in Chicago Day After Inauguration

Published on

 

From the Daily Caller News Foundation

By Jason Hopkins

President-elect Donald Trump is expected to launch his promised large-scale deportation operation the day after he is sworn into office, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal.

The incoming Trump administration will immediately begin mass deportation efforts in major sanctuary cities across the United States, with Chicago predicted to be first on the docket, according to The Wall Street Journal. The raid in Chicago is anticipated to begin Tuesday morning and last the entire week, with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to deploy 100 to 200 agents to execute the operation.

Incoming border czar Tom Homan — who led ICE during the first Trump administration — previously told the Daily Caller News Foundation that the White House will focus on the “worst first,” prioritizing illegal migrants who have criminal histories and orders of removal. However, Homan also made clear that any illegal migrant in the U.S is fair game.

“Like the first Trump administration, we’re going to prioritize public safety threats, national security threats and fugitives,” Homan stated to the DCNF, adding that gang members and other criminals would be their main focus. “Those that had due process at great taxpayer expense, were given orders of deportation, never left and became a fugitive – them too, they’re a priority.”

“The ones who pose the biggest threat to the country – they come first. The worst first,” Homan went on. “But let’s be clear, if you’re in the country illegally, you’re not off the table.”

The Chicago City Council recently slapped down an attempt by two moderate aldermen to scale back the sanctuary city laws currently in place.

Aldermen Raymond Lopez and Silvana Tabares, both Democrats, proposed amending Chicago’s Welcoming City ordinance to allow for ICE cooperation when an illegal migrant has been arrested of certain criminal activities, arguing that such a policy would be a net benefit for the city’s immigrant community as it would allow deportation officers to better focus on criminals instead of making enforcement actions in the city at large. However, their proposal was quickly shot down by the council on Wednesday.

Other sanctuary cities in the U.S. have also expressed steep opposition to Trump’s enforcement agenda. Los Angeles passed its sanctuary law shortly after Trump emerged victorious in the presidential election, San Diego County doubled down on its existing law and Boston reaffirmed its sanctuary status in December.

Homan has said that city officials refusing to cooperate with ICE will not deter their agenda, and he added that those who knowingly harbor illegal migrants from law enforcement will be recommended for prosecution.

Along with large-scale deportation operations, Trump has also vowed to end birthright citizenship for those born on U.S. soil by illegal migrant parents, resume construction on the U.S.-Mexico border wall, bring back the Remain in Mexico program and implement other hawkish policies.

Continue Reading

International

Coup in Romania – Fascinating interview with Presidential hopeful Calin Georgescu

Published on

Funny how a lot of people branded “far right” by progressives and the corporate media sound pretty reasonable when you see / hear them in conversation.

Take Romanian Presidential candidate Calin Georgescu.  As an independent candidate, Georgescu found himself leading the current Presidential race in Romania when his campaign found itself under attack.

Georgescu opposes financial and military support of the war in neighbouring Ukraine.  For that he’s been called not pro-peace, but pro-Russian and anti-NATO.  His campaign effectively used TikTok as any other potenial candidate hoping to win an election in 2024 would do.  Opponents say his social media success simply has to be the result of Russian influence.  They have no proof, but they’re already in power so they don’t seem to need any.

Georgescu has an extremely interesting resume for someone who is apparently ‘far-right’. In 2015 and 2016 he was Executive Director of the United Nations International Institute for Sustainable Development.  His political experience in Romani comes from a long stint in the Office for the Environment including two years as Secretary General of the Ministry of Environment.

He followed that up with a long run as Executive Director of the National Centre for Sustainable Development  in Bucharest, before joining the United Nations.

Fascinating route to far-right extremism indeed.

Of course no one called him ‘ultranationalist, extremist, or far-right while he was polling around 5%.  But when his success in the first round catapulted him to 23% of the vote for President, putting him in the lead heading into the decisive second round of Presidential voting, the Constitutional Court of Romania annulled the results.

Among his “far-right” campaign initiatives were strengthening Romania’s defence capabilities, diversifying Romania’s diplomatic relations, increased support for farmers, promoting energy and food production, and reducing dependency on imports.

From Viva Frei on Rumble

Călin Georgescu’s unexpected success in the first round of the presidential election was attributed to a massive social media campaign on TikTok, which was later scrutinized for possible foreign influence, particularly from Russia. The court’s decision to annul the election results was based on these concerns and allegations of campaign finance irregularities. It is nothing less than the desecration of the democratic process.

 

Continue Reading

Trending

X