The Secret Service declined an offer from local law enforcement to use drone technology at the rally where a gunman took shots at former President Donald Trump , an anonymous whistleblower told Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO).
Hawley revealed in a letter published Thursday to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas that the whistleblower said the Secret Service "repeatedly" objected to using a drone that was capable of identifying and neutralizing an active shooter.
The whistleblower said a local law enforcement partner made the drone offers to the Secret Service the night before the rally, according to Hawley. The whistleblower said that after the shooting occurred, the Secret Service "changed course" and asked local police to use drone technology to surveil the scene, Hawley wrote.
The revelation comes after FBI Director Christopher Wray confirmed on Wednesday that Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, flew a drone over the rally site in Butler, Pennsylvania, about two hours before he carried out the shooting. Crooks was able to fire multiple shots into the rally crowd from a nearby rooftop, killing one, critically injuring two, and causing a minor injury to Trump.
Wray said the FBI reverse-engineered the drone's flight path and found that Crooks flew it around roughly 200 yards from the stage where Trump later spoke and livestreamed the site for about 11 minutes.
"This raises an obvious question: why was the U.S. Secret Service (USSS) not using its own drones?" Hawley wrote.
The Missouri lawmaker said it was "hard to understand" why the Secret Service did not stop Crooks from using a drone so close to the rally start time while also refusing an offer from local police to employ a drone to help secure the event.
Hawley's revelation comes as the Secret Service faces intense scrutiny for the security failures that led to the first assassination attempt on a current or former president since 1981.
Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle announced her resignation this week after she struggled to provide answers to House lawmakers' questions at a hearing about the security missteps on Monday. Cheatle admitted at the hearing that it was “the most significant operational failure at the Secret Service in decades,” and she faced bipartisan calls to step down from her post.
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Several entities, including the Department of Homeland Security inspector general and a House task force, have opened investigations into the shooting and the Secret Service's actions surrounding it.
Asked for comment, a DHS spokesperson indicated that the department would communicate directly with Hawley to address the whistleblower claims he highlighted in his letter.
"DHS responds to congressional correspondence directly via official channels, and the Department will continue to respond appropriately to congressional oversight," the spokesperson said. "We are committed to working with the appropriate and relevant investigations of what happened on July 13, including with Congress, the Inspector General, and both internal and independent reviews."
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