(The Hill) — Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) called for the Secret Service to be defunded after the recent assassination attempt on former President Trump raised questions about the service’s ability to keep elected officials safe.
Roy joined Fox News’s Laura Ingraham Friday after he attended the funeral of Pennsylvania firefighter Corey Comperatore — the rallygoer who was killed during the shooting at Trump’s rally outside Pittsburgh last weekend.
“Right now, the president of the United States — the former president and hopefully soon to be president of the United States Donald Trump — is alive not because of what the Secret Service did, but because he providentially turned his head,” Roy said on “The Ingraham Angle,” adding “that’s the truth of the fact and the fact is, the American people are sick of it.”
Roy also criticized members of the Biden administration, saying the public is “sick” of leaders keeping their jobs after events like the assassination attempt and President Biden’s withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan in 2021.
“They’re sick of the FBI. They’re sick of the intel community,” he continued. “All of these people keep their jobs and now, the Secret Service endangers the poor president and the sitting Republican nominee and they’re acting like nothing happened.”
His comments come after 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire at the rally in Butler, Pa., killing Comperatore, critically injuring two other event attendees and grazed the former president’s ear with a bullet. Crooks was also killed by a countersniper.
The Secret Service (USSS) was heavily criticized for its perceived lack of security and communication. USSS Director Kimberly Cheatle said her agency was “solely responsible” for Saturday’s protocol and noted that certain “safety factors” — including the building’s sloped roof where the gunman lay — that were considered when police opted to secure the building from inside, instead of on top.
Cheatle will testify before the House Oversight and Accountability Committee on Monday to talk about what security failure led to Trump’s near-death experience. There have been several calls for her to step down from her leadership position, which she has thus far refused to do.
Roy argued that it was “absolutely unbelievable” that the gunman flew a drone over the rally site hours before the event began, and the Secret Service didn’t notice. Roy was referencing a report by The Wall Street Journal, which added to the security lapses for the day.
“Here’s the deal. We have to stop funding it. We have to stop giving these people jobs,” he argued. “We have to hold them accountable.”
“It’s not just the Secret Service,” Roy added later. “It’s the Pentagon, the Department of Defense, the FBI, the CIA, DHS.”