1 of 2 | Law enforcement snipers set up before the arrival of former President Donald Trump on a rooftop overlooking a campaign rally at the Butler Farm Show Inc. in Butler, Pa., on Saturday, July 13. On Sunday, the Biden administration announced an expert panel to review the security circumstances surrounding the rally, during which Trump suffered a gunshot wound to the right ear in an attempted assassination. File photo by David Maxwell/EPA-EFE
July 21 (UPI) -- Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas of Homeland Security named a bipartisan panel to conduct a 45-day independent review of the July 13 assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump.
The panel will be comprised of four former government security experts: Janet Napolitano, former Homeland Security secretary during the administration of President Barack Obama; Frances Townsend, former Homeland Security advisor to President George W. Bush; Mark Filip, a former judge and deputy attorney general to Bush; and David Mitchell, former superintendent of Maryland State Police and former secretary of the Department of Public Safety and Homeland Security for the State of Delaware.
Mayorkas could invite others to the panel at any time, his department added.
"We are committed to getting to the bottom of what happened on July 13, and I am grateful to the distinguished members of this independent review who will bring decades of expertise in law enforcement and security operations to this important investigation," he said in a statement.
Trump suffered a gunshot wound to his right ear July 13 during an election rally in rural Pennsylvania. The shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, fired the round with a legally purchased assault rifle from the roof outside of a building near where Trump was speaking. A spectator was killed and two others were injured in the failed assassination. Moments after letting off the rounds, Crooks was killed by a Secret Service sniper.
The shooting has raised questions about Trump's Secret Service detail and security planning for the event, and President Joe Biden has directed Homeland Security to conduct an independent review of the circumstances surrounding the failed assassination attempt.
Planning as well as actions taken by Secret Service, state and local authorities before, during and after the rally plus Secret Service governing policies and procedures will be examined by the review, the federal department said.
"This independent review will examine what happened and provide actionable recommendations to ensure they carry out their no-fail mission most effectively and to prevent something like this from ever happening again," Mayorkas said.
The results of the review will be released to the public, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
"We formed this bipartisan group to quickly identify improvements the U.S. Secret Service can implement to enhance their work," the expert panel said in a statement.
"We must all work together to ensure events like July 13 do not happen again."
