There were major lapses in security at the assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump, Rep. Carlos Gimenez, R-Fla., told Newsmax on Wednesday.
Gimenez, a member of the House Homeland Security Committee, recently visited the site in Pennsylvania where a shooter killed one person and wounded two at a Trump rally.
"There are things that were in plain sight that weren't covered, things that anybody who took Security 101 would have covered," Gimenez said on "National Report."
Gimenez said the shooter never should have been in position to fire.
"Those areas should have been secured beforehand," Gimenez said. "Maybe there was lack of communication. People didn't take the appropriate steps to safeguard President Trump."
Gimenez said there are numerous questions that have to be answered about the shooting and how, Thomas Crooks, the shooter, was allowed to be so close to Trump.
"There are so many things that fell through here that weren't followed up," Gimenez said. "The local police had cited this individual as somebody who was suspicious. They were actually looking for him … maybe 20 minutes before they brought the president out. Why would you bring a president out when you're still looking for a guy who's supposed to be very suspicious?"
A bipartisan task force to investigate the shooting was announced by House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., with a report being issued in December. Gimenez hopes it answers his questions.
"Why did the Secret Service have so many gaps? Is that something that's normal for the Secret Service? Do they have the training? Do they need to step up their training? Have they lost their mojo?" Gimenez said. "How did it take so long for people to communicate with each other when there was clearly already reports of the suspicious person?"
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