Month: July 2024

On Wednesday, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) called for the resignation of Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle in the wake of the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania over the weekend.  Multiple lawmakers have questioned why the roof of a building within 150 yards of Trump wasn’t secured by the Secret Service or local law enforcement. and also have asked why Secret Service snipers on another roof in the area didn’t engage the shooter until after Crooks had fired multiple times.

During an appearance on Fox News at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Johnson said: “I’m going to call for resignation. Look, I think it’s inexcusable. … Her explanation to the media that there was a slant on the roof, so there was safety concern — it doesn’t wash. And I think she’s shown what her priorities are.”  On Tuesday, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., Johnson’s top lieutenant, had also called for Cheatle to resign. 

In the Fox News interview, Johnson also said he will create a congressional task force to consolidate investigations into the security failures around Trump’s Saturday rally that resulted in 20-year-old gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks shooting and injuring the president, killing one attendee, and leaving two others in critical condition.  Said Johnson: “The reason we’re going to do it that way is because that is a more precision strike. It goes quicker, there’s not a lot of the procedural hurdles, and it will have subpoena authority for that task force as well. It will be compiled of Republicans and Democrats to get down the bottom of this quickly so the American people can get the answers that they deserve.”

Johnson added that “within hours” of Saturday’s shooting, he was on the phone with Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who “did not have satisfactory answers at that time,” adding that he’s also spoken with FBI Director Wray and Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines:  “The answers have not been forthcoming. I think they’re gathering data. We’re going to do it as well. We have to have accountability for this. It was inexcusable. Obviously, there were security lapses. You don’t have to be a special ops expert to understand that, and we’re gonna get down to the bottom of it quickly.”

Johnson also referenced Cheatle in an ABC News interview when saying there were no law enforcement officers stationed on the roof from which the shooter fired because the “sloped roof” created safety concerns, despite other Secret Service snipers being positioned on a roof that was also sloped.  Said Johnson: “It doesn’t wash, and I think she’s shown what her priorities are. I don’t know her personally, but we’ll be asking lots of questions.”

Speaking to ABC News earlier this week, Cheatle said she would not resign, but stated: “The buck stops with me. I am the director of the Secret Service.” Cheatle said that the Secret Service was responsible for securing the inner perimeter of the rally, while local law enforcement was responsible for securing the area outside the rally, which included the building accessed by Crooks.

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The FBI said in a press release that it has gained access to the phone of the suspected gunman (identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks) who opened fire during former President Donald Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in which one supporter was killed and two others were wounded before Secret Service agents shot dead 20-year-old Crooks. The agency is continuing its search for a motive of the gunman’s attempted assassination of  Trump.

The shooting, which left Trump bleeding from one ear, is being investigated as an assassination attempt. Per the bureau’s press release, federal investigators announced on Sunday that they had obtained Crooks’s cellphone, but had issues with bypassing its password protections to access date; however, investigators then shipped the phone to a lab in Virginia, where agents successfully gained access. The agency said its technical specialists have gained access to Crooks’ phone and continue to analyze his electronic devices for clues, as well as working to determine the motive behind the attack on Trump, but no clear picture has yet emerged. The FBI also stated that it had completed nearly 100 interviews of law enforcement personnel, event attendees and other witnesses, and had also completed a search of the suspect’s car and residence.

The FBI and DHS had previously said in a joint bulletin  hat Crooks had received “several packages, including some marked as possibly containing hazardous material,” in the past several months based on a review of his shipping history, and also purchased 50 rounds of ammunition at a gun shop before traveling to the rally. A search of his home and vehicle had previously found “suspicious devices” that were sent to the FBI’s laboratory for evaluation.

Little information has been discovered regarding Crooks, who left behind no immediately available manifesto or record of the attack. He was registered as a Republican voter and donated $15 to a Democratic-allied organization but did not maintain a large online presence.  The AR-style 556 rifle used by the shooter was legally purchased by his father and officials said there was no indication that the suspect suffered from any mental health issues.

In the meantime, the FBI and Homeland Security said they are concerned about the possibilities of retaliatory acts, or “follow-ons”, stating: “we cannot rule out the possibility that some [domestic violent extremist] or other actors may attempt follow-on or retaliatory acts of violence in response to this assassination attempt.”

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New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez was found guilty of all 16 federal charges against him on Tuesday, July 16, following an eight-week corruption trial that centered around his level of involvement with Egypt’s government. The decision came after a New York City jury delivered the guilty verdict on their third day of deliberations. Immediately after the verdict, Majority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer called for Menendez’s resignation: “In light of this guilty verdict, Senator Menendez must now do what is right for his constituents, the Senate, and our country, and resign.”

Menendez had pleaded not guilty to 16 federal charges including bribery, fraud, acting as a foreign agent and obstruction. Menendez declined to testify in his own defense, telling reporters during the trial: “From my perspective, the government has failed to prove every aspect of its case.”

Prosecutors claimed the New Jersey Democrat, 70, accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes in the form of cash, gold bars, mortgage payments and more in exchange for the senator’s political clout, with the FBI discovering gold bars and more than $400,000 in cash stashed in places including jackets and shoes throughout his home. Federal prosecutor Paul Monteleoni said during his closing argument on July 8: “It wasn’t enough for him to be one of the most powerful people in Washington. Robert Menendez wanted all that power and he also wanted to use it to pile up riches for himself and his wife.”

The defense maintained that all of the actions in the indictment fell within the scope of Menendez’s position and that prosecutors failed to prove he took any bribes, with , defense attorney Adam Fee mocking the government’s case as “cherry-picked nonsense” and accused prosecutors of “fudging” the facts: “The only honest verdict I submit here is to acquit him on each count. His actions were lawful, normal and good for the country.”  The defense also told jurors that Menendez and his wife, who has also been charged in the case, led separate lives and she had financial concerns that she kept from her husband.

Three New Jersey businessmen who were also charged alongside Menendez, along with the governments of Egypt and Qatar, were the alleged recipients. Two of those co-defendants, Wael Hanna and Fred Daibes, were also convicted of all counts they faced.

Menendez has served as senator for New Jersey since 2006; he is the first sitting member of Congress to be charged with conspiracy by a public official to act as a foreign agent. The recent trail marked the second time the senator was charged with corruption; back in 2015, an indictment against him ended in a mistrial in 2018 after a jury failed to reach a verdict on all counts. He has repeatedly refused to resign, though he did step down as the chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee following the initial indictment in September 2023.

Menendez’s wife got permission to delay her trial while she undergoes treatment for grade 3 breast cancer. Menendez will be sentenced on Oct. 29 and faces a sentence of more than 200 years in prison.

Editorial credit: lev radin / Shutterstock.com