The official Congressional task force investigating the July 13th assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump held its first public hearing, detailing the numerous security failures and lack of communication between the Secret Service, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and local law enforcement. Representative Mike Waltz (R-FL), who sat at the hearing, discussed the findings recently on Fox News's Jesse Watters Primetime, concluding that "the whole thing stinks."
Host Jesse Watters noted that Iranian plots to assassinate Trump have been uncovered even as they visit New York City for the United Nations and are receiving Secret Service protection. Yet, Trump has been denied the same level of security.
"It is bad enough that Iran has been trying to kill not only Trump but members of his cabinet for years. Trump's core detail was denied resources for years in the runup to July 13th, but then the local police and we have some indication [that] the Secret Service was not told by the FBI the severity of the threat. We have never in our history encountered this level of election interference with an adversary openly talking about killing not only a former president but the leading presidential candidate," said Rep. Waltz.
More egregiously, the Florida Congressman continued, the Biden-Harris Administration has not publicly called out Iran for these plots.
Watters further detailed how the FBI had arrested Asif Merchant, a Pakistani illegal alien who arrived in the United States through Venezuela, as he plotted an assassination of Trump and was already hiring hitmen and seeking protesters to act as a distraction on behalf of Iran before the shooting. Still, the FBI neglected to say anything to the Secret Service or Butler, Pennsylvania, law enforcement.
Rep. Waltz reiterated his doubts about would-be Trump assassin Thomas Crooks acting alone, referencing the supposed encrypted accounts, the improvised explosive devices (IEDs), and the lack of information surrounding Crooks. "The whole thing stinks," he said.
"Well, on the one hand, they say we do not know anything about [Crooks], but in the same breath, 'we are confident he acted alone,' but in the same breath, 'we cannot get into all of his encrypted accounts, but yeah, he acted alone," Waltz concluded.
