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Trump assassination attempt task force heads to the scene in Butler to get 'answers' while Secret Service 'slow walks' investigation

3 weeks ago 6

The members of the bipartisan Trump assassination task force are heading to Butler, Pennsylvania, to demand answers after the Secret Service continues to 'slow walk' information. 

Speaker Mike Johnson previewed the trip on Fox & Friends Monday morning, saying he is 'confident' in the task force's leader Rep. Mike Kelly (R-Pa.), who is 'doing a great job.'

'They've been digging in, getting the answers and requesting documents. They have been slow walked, so that's the concern. So we're pressing go to get the answers to the American people,' said the speaker.

DailyMail.com has learned that Kelly and Democratic ranking member of the task force Jason Crow (Colo.), are planning to meet with local law enforcement to gain 'firsthand knowledge' relevant to their expansive probe. 

Their trip to Butler comes days after multiple Secret Service agents have been put on leave during the investigation into the Donald Trump assassination attempt.

The massive security failure that led to the horrific has sparked probes from a wide range of government agencies that are ongoing after 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire on the former president on July 13

Multiple Secret Service agents have been put on leave during the investigation into the Donald Trump assassination attempt, reports suggest

According to NBC News, four Pittsburgh field agents, including the head of the division, and one Trump agent have been put on leave. 

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) told DailyMail.com in a statement Friday that 'there must be accountability' for the Secret Service's 'historic failures.'

'Holding negligent employees accountable is the first step. I look forward to the Task Force's findings of its investigation. We must ensure the Secret Service does not fail again.' 

Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi did not comment on the reports that the agents have been put on leave because due to it being a 'personnel matter.'

But he told DailyMail.com that they are still 'examining the processes, procedures and factors that led to this operational failure.'

'The U.S. Secret Service holds our personnel to the highest professional standards, and any identified and substantiated violations of policy will be investigated by the Office of Professional Responsibility for potential disciplinary action.'

The suspended agents are expected to still be working for the Secret Service and getting paid. They were most likely moved to an administrative role while the investigation continues. 

Crooks' plot sparked the resignation of the agency's director Kimberly Cheatle and led to a slew of questions, including how he was able to get on a roof in clear sight of where Trump was speaking in Butler, Pennsylvania.

The would-be assassin was spotted by witnesses before the shooting and Secret Service and law enforcement were warned of his presence.

Yet he was still able to open fire at least eight times with the AR-style rifle he got from his father. 

Republican Rep. Mike Waltz told DailyMail.com earlier this week that he wasn't convinced Crooks acted alone.

He said the gunman's motivation is still unknown and he is worried a foreign entity or other third-party could have been involved in the attack.

Waltz queried how federal law enforcement can confidently say Crooks was a lone wolf if they can't answer other questions like why he had multiple foreign encrypted messaging accounts.

His comments came after it was revealed that Iran was also plotting an attempt on the former president's life around the same time that Crooks carried out his plan.

'The more we get into it, the more questions I have,' Waltz said. 'It's really what's coming out around it that is so disturbing.

'And for me, the thing that's most disturbing is that we have ongoing plots from Iran to take out a former president, leading candidate, and that a Pakistani national was just arrested after making a down payment for hitmen, and it's barely even being covered in the news.'

Crooks, 20, was able to create multiple explosives with remote detonators, another thing that raised Waltz's eyebrows and makes him wonder whether he had help.

Thomas Matthew Crooks pictured at the Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13 before he opened fire on the crowd and former president

Crooks, 20, was shot dead on site by U.S. Secret Service after he killed a rally goer, critical injured two other supporters and was able to barely graze the side of Trump's ear at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13

As the FBI, U.S. Secret Service (USSS) and Department of Homeland Security conduct their investigations into the massive security failure, Waltz and 12 other lawmakers on a House task force are also looking into the attempted assassination.

'I don't understand, and I don't have any answers yet to help me understand how the [Secret] Service and DHS came out so quickly and said – and I think the FBI as well, but I'll have to check that – and said, he operated alone,' Waltz said when speaking with DailyMail.com at Trump Tower in Chicago on Wednesday. 'How do you know that mere days into your investigation?'

The Florida congressman added: 'You can't tell us his motive, but you could tell us he operated alone? You can't get into these encrypted overseas accounts, but you can tell us he acted alone? So, I don't buy that yet.'

A bullet fired from his AR-style weapon, bought legally by Crooks' father, grazed the former president's right ear. 

Crooks' parents have hired a team of powerhouse attorneys as the FBI continues to investigate just how much they knew ahead of their son's assassination attempt. 

A family member shared with DailyMail.com that the FBI, 'still very much has questions' regarding how much the killer's parents knew – while revealing that his father is a gun enthusiast who has sold firearms to relatives in the past.

Quinn Logue, the Pittsburgh-based law firm that Matthew Crooks , 53, and his wife Mary, 53, retained describe themselves as trial attorneys who specialize in both criminal defense and civil suits including wrongful death and personal injury. 

Crooks killed one rally-goer and critically injured two others before he was taken out.

The FBI also found explosives in Crooks' car, which was parked near the rally site. And upon raiding his parents' house, where he lived, they found more bombs.

'I don't know of many 19-year-old kids who could make multiple IEDs with a remote detonator on their own,' Waltz told DailyMail.com. 'Why didn't that get picked up if he's searching that online or buying literature on how to do that?'

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