Homeland Security IG to probe Secret Service after Trump shooting

The Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general's office will investigate the Secret Service efforts to provide security for former President Donald Trump’s rally in Pennsylvania, where Trump’s ear was grazed by a bullet in an assassination attempt.

The office provided few details about the scope of the investigation beyond a brief statement posted to its website that said the office will investigate the “process for securing former President Trump's July 13, 2024, campaign event.”

The Department of Homeland Security’s investigation comes after President Joe Biden ordered an independent review of law enforcement’s security efforts at the Trump rally, and the FBI launched a probe into the shooting. One bystander was also killed, and two others were severely wounded in the sniper attack.

Congressional Republicans are also investigating the assassination attempt . House Homeland Security Chair Mark Green (R-Tenn.) invited Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle, FBI Director Christopher Wray and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to testify before the committee next week.

A Secret Service spokesperson didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday. The Homeland Security Department’s Office of the Inspector General also didn't immediately respond to a comment request.

The shooting remains in the early stages of an investigation as authorities continue to search for a motive, but law enforcement authorities have come under intense criticism as questions remain about how the shooter managed to have a clear line of sight at Trump while he spoke on the rally stage.

Trump’s face was streaked with blood as Secret Service agents moved him off the stage moments after shots were fired. The shooter, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, was fatally shot by a Secret Service countersniper.

Law enforcement authorities later found explosives inside Crooks’ car , which was parked outside the rally, and at his home in Bethel Park, Pennsylvania.

Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle withdrew from the Aspen Security Forum following the assassination attempt to attend all of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, where the Secret Service is providing security.