The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) independent watchdog announced on Wednesday it is opening an investigation into security lapses that led to the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump during a weekend rally.

The probe will “evaluate the United States Secret Service’s (Secret Service) process for securing former President Trump’s July 13, 2024 campaign event,” the office of the DHS inspector general said in statements posted to its website. The Secret Service agency is a department within DHS.

US President Joe Biden said on Monday that he directed an independent investigation into the security at Saturday’s rally “to assess exactly what happened.” The results of the probe will be shared publicly, said Biden.

It is unclear when the DHS probe was launched and if the review announced by the inspector general is the same one Biden ordered.

Law enforcement has identified the suspected shooter as Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, from the state of Pennsylvania.

Crooks was fatally shot by a Secret Service agent after he opened fire from a nearby roof outside of the Butler, Pennsylvania venue where Trump was addressing supporters ahead of November’s national election.

Authorities have yet to determine a motive for the shooting but it has raised serious questions about security preparations for the gathering.

The shooting injured the former president, killed one spectator and critically wounded two others. Trump was seen being whisked off the stage by Secret Service agents, his face bloodied after it appeared that he was grazed by a bullet.

He later said he was shot in the ear and appeared at the ongoing Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with a bandage covering his right ear.

The Secret Service is tasked with ensuring the security of presidents and vice presidents, both former and current, as well as presidential nominees during election years.

Opinion

Editorial

Fancy tax scheme
Updated 23 Sep, 2024

Fancy tax scheme

GOVERNMENTS propose, bureaucrats dispose — often relegating ‘plans’ to an existing pile of schemes gathering...
Lebanon on edge
23 Sep, 2024

Lebanon on edge

NOT content with the bloodbath it has unleashed in Gaza, Israel is now on the rampage in Lebanon, routinely ...
Chikungunya threat
23 Sep, 2024

Chikungunya threat

MISERY usually follows every rainy season. If it is not infrastructural degradation, it is disease. And so, the...
TTP’s reach
Updated 22 Sep, 2024

TTP’s reach

The TTP — particularly its activities inside Afghanistan — should be a matter of global concern, specifically for regional states.
Parliamentary ‘coup’
22 Sep, 2024

Parliamentary ‘coup’

SOME have celebrated the recent ‘elimination’ of a major political party from the National Assembly with the...
Fixing the flaws
22 Sep, 2024

Fixing the flaws

THE Pakistan women’s cricket team is heading to next month’s T20 World Cup without winning a series in the...