Assassination attempt on Trump needs full investigation

This is my Orange County Register column today

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This is my column today:

Both the left and the right are circulating conspiracy theories for Saturday’s assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump. But there is a simple explanation: Secret Service laxity.

As such, two things are needed. 

First, calming down the country. Second, thorough investigations into how such an attack could happen.

This should be seen as a good reason to reduce the rhetoric on both sides. Representative Jared Golden, D-Maine, is in a tough re-election campaign. Yet he put it well: “We can start by dropping hyperbolic threats about the stakes of this election. It should not be misleadingly portrayed as a struggle between democracy or authoritarianism, or a battle against fascists or socialists bent on destroying America. These are dangerous lies.”

Speaking to the nation Sunday afternoon, President Biden said he had a “short, good conversation” with Trump, and said, “We’ll debate, we’ll disagree,” but violence is unacceptable. 

He added the FBI is leading the investigation, “and the investigators will have every resource to get this done.” He also needs to pledge the full cooperation of all agencies with Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson’s promised “full investigation.”

Standing next to Biden were Vice President Kamala Harris, Attorney General Merrick Garland, who is in charge of the FBI, and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who is in charge of the Secret Service.

I hope President Trump makes this week’s Republican National Convention an opportunity to call for his followers to stay calm, work for harmony and discuss the serious issues of this campaign.

A couple of points about what we know so far. A conspiracy does not seem likely. The shooter, to put it bluntly, missed. A pro would not have. Thomas Matthew Crooks, quickly killed by a Secret Service counter-sniper, was 20 years old and worked in a nursing home. 

Crooks climbed to the top of the building nearest Trump’s podium, just 148 yards away, without anyone stopping him. It’s obvious the Secret Service should have prevented that, even had an agent on the roof.

Evy Poumpouras, a former Secret Service agent who worked on presidential details, told NBC’s Today show, “Why weren’t those adjacent buildings looked at? They are very close.”

Rep. Cory Mills, R-Florida, is a former sniper with the 82nd Airborne Division and Joint Special Operations Command. He told CNN, for a good sniper it would have been “nothing for a shot adjacent to the stage of the president…. This is a massive security breach in my opinion.”

A key figure in this is Secret Service Director Kimberly A. Cheatle. According to the service’s bio, she served with them for 27 years, most recently as assistant director of the Office of Protective Operations. However, after retiring she served as senior director in Global Security at PepsiCo. That prompted Elon Musk to mock on X, “So before being in charge of protecting the President, she was guarding bags of Cheetos …”

At a minimum, she ought to be fired immediately. Next, Mayorkas ought to be canned for hiring her. As to their ultimate boss, Biden, his boss, the voters, will make their decision in November.

A big problem with this administration has been no consequences for failure. After the president’s shambolic withdrawal  of troops out of Afghanistan three years ago, in which 13 U.S. troops needlessly were killed, neither Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin nor then-Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley was fired.

An April survey by the Washington Post found 20 of Trump’s original cabinet members left during his four years in office, compared to five for Biden. Of presidents since Reagan, only George W. Bush, also with five departures in his first term, was as low. While Trump’s turnover, typically, was too high, Biden’s was too low.

This is part of what is being called the “crisis of competence.” 

All this means the FBI and congressional investigations need to be meticulously dedicated to digging out the truth.