It's important to get answers behind the failures leading to the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump to be sure that they never happen again, Rep. David Joyce, a member of a congressional task force investigating the incident, told Newsmax on Sunday.
"President Trump is a very lucky man," the Ohio Republican told Newsmax's "Sunday Report," adding that if Trump had turned his head just slightly after a shooter in Butler, Pennsylvania opened fire on him last month, "we would have witnessed something completely more horrific than what we already have seen."
He said that Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Pa., who is chairing the bipartisan task force, has been getting investigators and staff lined up so Congress can get answers about what happened.
"Let's make sure those problems never happen again, because you are dealing with [Secret Service] agents who have a no-fault decision to make," said Joyce. "They can't make mistakes, so let's figure out where the errors were."
Testimony has been heard from former Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle and FBI Director Christopher Wray, and Joyce said that Cheatle "might as well have stayed home."
"Thank God she stepped down," he said, adding that acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe is admitting that errors were made.
"That's fine," said Joyce. "We're all human. We make errors, but we can't afford to make them again."
Meanwhile, some blame has shifted to local law enforcement in Butler, and Joyce said that wasn't fair.
"The only people who were in charge of an event like this were the Secret Service, and they delegated their duties to someone else," he said. "You could see with that 84-second delay, that's probably because they didn't know if that was friend or foe on the other roof."
But the local agents were not on the roof, so the shooter's presence should have been made known to the Secret Service's snipers, he added.
Meanwhile, the House members voted 416-0 to form the task force, which is unusual, said Joyce.
"Even bridge renamings, somebody usually balks at them," he said. "It was fashioned in a bipartisan manner so we can get the results that all the people of our country will hopefully be able to accept."
That will also allow the conspiracy theories to be dropped so the facts will be known and used for the protection of not only Trump but of the four other living presidents and for candidates campaigning in public, said Joyce.
Meanwhile, the FBI speculated at first whether Trump had been hit by a bullet or by something else, and Joyce said he appreciated that they wanted to have the facts first.
The committee has a deadline of Dec. 13 for its final report to be released, and Joyce said that can be accomplished, but all reports must be gathered, including going back to some directors and seeing if there have been any changes in procedures.
Meanwhile, when it comes to a motive, Joyce said he believes that shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks "wanted to create calamity" and he didn't care who he shot at.
"It's just the unfortunate circumstance that President Trump chose to come almost into his backyard," said Joyce.
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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