One year after a gunman came within a fraction of an inch of assassinating the 45th president of the United States, the American public remains in the dark on one of the darkest chapters in U.S. history. The senator leading the investigation into the bizarre sequence of events surrounding the murder plot in Butler, Penn., said his committee is “not an inch closer” to knowing why killer and would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks did what he did.
“We had earlier reports about the geolocation of his cellphone, bopping all over Washington, D.C. We have not gotten any more information. Again, it’s incredibly frustrating,” Sen. Ron Johnson told me Friday in an interview on the Dan O’Donnell Show on NewsTalk 1130 WISN in Milwaukee.
The Wisconsin Republican, who leads the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, issued a subpoena on Friday to Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Kash Patel for records relating to the July 13, 2024 assassination attempt of then-GOP presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump. Johnson calls it a “friendly, not an adversarial subpoena,” but it’s clear, the FBI has not been forthcoming with the subcommittee’s many requests for information.
Trump’s Federal Bureau of Investigation, it seems, has been no better than Biden’s FBI, in cooperating with congressional investigators.
“Things just slowed down after our initial report. We were not getting access to [U.S.] Secret Service personnel,” Johnson said. “When President Trump won, I think my assumption was that his FBI, his Department of Justice, would certainly hop on this, investigate it, and produce the result. That hasn’t happened.”
‘Shocking, Unacceptable and Preventable’
Johnson was ranking member of the subcommittee in late September when it released a bipartisan interim report on the assassination attempt. Crooks, according to law enforcement officials, was able to climb up on the roof of a building adjacent to the grounds where Trump held his campaign rally. The gunman got off several shots, one hitting the president’s ear, another striking and mortally wounding Corey Comperatore, a firefighter who shielded family members from the gunfire. Two others were seriously injured. Several seconds into the attack, a Secret Service sniper fatally shot Crooks.
The report, produced in partnership with the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, looked into the U.S. Secret Service’s disastrous security planning, communications, and coordination failures that contributed to the assassination attempt.
“From planning missteps, to the siloed and flawed communication to the lack of effective coordination between law enforcement, to the breakdowns in technology, the Secret Service’s failures that allowed an assassination attempt on former President Trump at his July 13 rally were shocking, unacceptable, and preventable – and they led to tragic consequences,” wrote Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., chairman of the Homeland Security committee, in a press release on the interim report.
[READ NEXT: Sean Davis: ‘Strategically Incompetent’ Secret Service Left Trump Vulnerable In Butler By Design]
‘Clam Up’
Much of what was learned was thanks to the investigators in Johnson’s office, who moved quickly in connecting with local police and people on the ground before federal government officials shut down access. He said Biden’s FBI and Secret Service told agency officials to “clam up.” Grossly incompetent Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned in the aftermath of one of the worst security failures in the agency’s history. Her acting successor, like Cheatle, stonewalled investigators.
Johnson said the bipartisan nature of the Senate’s investigation slowed things down. But after the report was issued, investigators hit a brick wall. He had hoped that FBI Director Kash Patel would turn over the agency’s 302 reports, critical investigation notes that included details on the “hundreds of interviews” the senator said the FBI has conducted.
“You, by the way, take that with a grain of salt. We learned that with [disgraced former FBI agent] Peter Strzok and [his paramour and disgraced former FBI attorney] Lisa Page and the Crossfire Hurricane Gang. But it was better than nothing,” Johnson said.
“We haven’t gotten one of them,” he continued. “There are body-cam videos, there are cameras within vehicles that we’ve requested. We did subpoena, earlier, the Pennsylvania State Patrol. We know they’ve got information that they have not been forthcoming with.”
‘They Had a Bad Day’
Johnson said the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations has ramped up its efforts, now including the subpoena.
Trump, appearing Saturday evening on My View with Lara Trump, told his daughter-in-law that he is satisfied with the FBI and DOJ briefings he’s had, although he voiced frustration about the Secret Service’s many lapses in judgment.
“You know, I have great confidence in these people, I know the people, and they are very talented, very capable,” the president said in the interview. “They had a bad day. I think they’ll admit that.”
Johnson said the Americans, particularly those who voted for Trump, aren’t satisfied, and he shares their frustration.
“The president of the United States calls these people in, [and says] ‘Brief me,’ and they do. We don’t get that same type of prompt response,” the senator said. “So, again, I thought I’d get their attention here with a subpoena.”
‘A Series of Bad Decisions’
Meanwhile, a new report from the federal Government Accountability Office details the Secret Service’s failures leading up to the assassination attempt in Butler. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, ordered the report, which “reveals that the Secret Service received classified intelligence regarding a threat to Trump’s life 10 days before the rally, but failed to share the information with other key agencies,” according to Fox News.
GAO’s examination in part blames what appears to be the Biden administration’s politically vindictive decision to withhold additional security for Trump.
“One year ago, a series of bad decisions and bureaucratic handicaps led to one of the most shocking moments in political history,” Grassley said in a press release. “The Secret Service’s failure on July 13 was the culmination of years of mismanagement and came after the Biden administration denied requests for enhanced security to protect President Trump. Americans should be grateful that President Trump survived that day and was ultimately reelected to restore common sense to our country.”
Matt Kittle is a senior elections correspondent for The Federalist. An award-winning investigative reporter and 30-year veteran of print, broadcast, and online journalism, Kittle previously served as the executive director of Empower Wisconsin.
