The Department of Justice and FBI provided only “limited cooperation” to the House task force investigating assassination attempts against President-elect Donald Trump, according to the task force’s final report.
Among recommendations offered in the final report, which include reconsidering whether the Secret Service should remain within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and limiting protection for foreign leaders, the task force wrote that Congress needs to “clarify its right” to obtain information related to law enforcement investigations.
“With respect to the assassination attempt in Butler, the Task Force’s requests for information were characterized by the FBI as implicating ‘significant law enforcement sensitivities,’ and subsequent FBI disclosures were labeled as ‘extraordinary accommodation[s] unique to this matter,’” the report said. “With respect to the assassination attempt in Florida, where the gunman was apprehended alive and awaits a likely prosecution, the FBI provided no documents in response to the Task Force’s request and provided only a single status briefing on September 25, 2024.”
Requests for documents relating to “preparation for, events of, and response to the second assassination attempt” are still outstanding from the DHS, Secret Service, FBI, and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the task force said.
FINAL REPORT
The final report from the Task Force on the Attempted Assassination of Donald J. Trump highlights significant failures in the planning, execution, and leadership of the Secret Service and its law enforcement partners. pic.twitter.com/jSvVprkEBy
— Task Force on Trump Assassination Attempt (@TFAADJT) December 10, 2024
The FBI also failed to provide its digital analysis of Butler rally shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks’ devices, along with Crooks’ “online activity as well as other specific documentation repeatedly requested by the Task Force.”
“Whether rooted in generalized ‘law enforcement sensitivities’ or an indefinite ‘law enforcement privilege’ that stems from the common law, the phrase ‘ongoing investigation’ should not be treated as a magical incantation that disables Congress’ otherwise broad right of access to relevant information necessary for it to carry out its constitutional functions,” the report said.
The task force accessed more than 18,000 pages of documents and 46 transcribed witness interviews over the course of its investigation. Ultimately, it concluded the attempt on Trump’s life at his Butler, Pa. rally was “preventable and should not have happened.”
“There was not, however, a singular moment or decision that allowed Thomas Matthew Crooks to nearly assassinate the former President,” the report said. “The various failures in planning, execution, and leadership on and before July 13, 2024, and the preexisting conditions that undermined the effectiveness of the human and material assets deployed that day, coalesced to create an environment in which the former President—and everyone at the campaign event—were exposed to grave danger.”
(Featured Image Media Credit: Screen Capture/CSPAN)
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