The Senate is opening an investigation into the attempted assassination of former President Trump and the security failures that led to it.
Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs (HSGAC) Chairman Gary Peters, D-Mich., will lead the investigation after shots were fired on Saturday night at a Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, leaving Trump bloodied with a wound on his right ear and a spectator dead.
The committee has requested a member briefing as soon as possible, a Peters aide told Fox News Digital.
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Peters will lead an investigation by the Homeland Security Committee into the shooting at Trump’s rally. (Getty Images)
The chairman will be speaking on Sunday with Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Fox News Digital was told.
Also on Sunday afternoon, committee staff will get their own briefing from DHS.
According to the Peters aide, the investigation is expected to include a number of steps, including hearings.
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Former President Trump is moved from the stage at a campaign rally, Saturday, July 13, 2024, in Butler, Pennsylvania. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
News of the investigation comes after several lawmakers have called for the incident to be probed, including senators in both parties.
On Saturday night, HSGAC member Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., called for an immediate hearing, to take place before August, to demand answers from both DHS and the Secret Service on how the attempted assassination was able to occur and what steps are being taken to investigate it.
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The crowd reacts after shots were fired at former President Trump’s rally on July 13, 2024, in Butler, Pennsylvania. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
“The assassination attempt on President Trump and murder of an innocent American demands immediate answers from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the U.S. Secret Service. It is a miracle that President Trump is alive and well but absolutely inexcusable that the deranged would-be assassin had a direct line of sight to the former president and the leading candidate for President of the United States,” Scott said in a statement.
He added that the HSGAC “has an oversight responsibility and an obligation to the American people to demand answers from DHS and the U.S. Secret Service on how this happened and what steps are being taken to investigate this assassination attempt and make sure it never happens again.”
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Sens. Gary Peters and Rand Paul talk before a Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing in Washington on Feb. 28, 2023. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
“Chairman Gary Peters must immediately hold a HSGAC hearing, before August 1st, with testimony from these agencies and deliver the answers that we as U.S. Senators and the American people demand and deserve from our government. The security of our Republic is being questioned and we as a nation need answers,” he added.
Vulnerable Montana Democratic Sen. Jon Tester penned a letter to Peters on Sunday, requesting that a hearing be held to investigate the shooting at Trump’s Pennsylvania rally.
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“As our nation grieves and looks to unite in the face of this violence, your committee can play an important role in getting answers to how this tragedy happened,” Tester wrote in the letter to both Peters and ranking member Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky.
“I appreciate the brave men and women in law enforcement, including the U.S. Secret Service, that put their own lives at risk to protect former President Trump and attendees. They do important work every day, almost exclusively out of the eye of the public,” the senator wrote. “I trust that your committee will work with them to provide oversight, accountability and piece together information so we can better understand how this event took place and what steps need to be taken to ensure something similar does not happen again.”
