DHS whistleblowers reveal Secret Service turned down drone use ahead of Trump shooting

Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley told Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on Thursday that a whistleblower revealed the Secret Service repeatedly turned down offers from local law enforcement to use drones ahead of the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump.

Trump was injured in a shooting on July 13, in Butler, Pennsylvania, at a rally that injured two other attendees and killed one person. The suspected shooter was also killed by a Secret Service sniper.

The revelation comes after FBI Director Christopher Wray confirmed on Wednesday that the suspected shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, flew his own drone over the stage before Trump spoke.

"According to one whistleblower, the night before the rally, U.S. Secret Service (USSS) repeatedly denied offers from a local law enforcement partner to utilize drone technology to secure the rally," Hawley wrote in the letter, per Fox News. "This means that the technology was both available to USSS and able to be deployed to secure the site. Secret Service said no."

The whistleblower claimed that the agency changed its mind on using drones after the assassination attempt was made and the shooter was down, in order to survey the site in its aftermath.

"It is hard to understand why USSS would decline to use drones when they were offered, particularly given the fact USSS permitted the shooter to overfly the rally area with his own drone mere hours before event," Hawley wrote. "The failure to deploy drone technology is all the more concerning since, according to the whistleblower, the drones USSS was offered had the capability not only to identify active shooters but also to help neutralize them."

The senator, a Republican, requested all DHS communications, including those from the Secret Service, regarding drone coverage for the rally as part of a congressional investigation into the attack.

The House voted to create a taskforce on Wednesday that specifically investigates the security failures regarding the assassination attempt, which will consist of seven Republicans and six Democrats.

Misty Severi is an evening news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.