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Major questions are being asked of the Secret Service after Donald Trump was targeted by a lone gunman in an assassination attempt at his rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday night.
The former president was shot in the ear around 15 minutes after he took to the stage at the campaign event in Butler.
He dropped to the ground and was swarmed by his security detail who rushed him off stage to a waiting motorcade. He could be seen raising his fist in the air and mouthing the words “Fight! Fight! Fight!” He was later discharged from a local hospital and flew to New Jersey.
The former president thanked God for preventing the “unthinkable from happening” and said he would remain “defiant in the face of wickedness”.
On Sunday morning, the FBI identified the “subject involved” in the attempted assassination as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks. He was shot dead by snipers.
As the investigation gets underway, serious questions are being asked of the Secret Service, whose job it is to provide former presidents with lifelong protection.
Follow our live blog for updates on the aftermath of the assassination attempt on Donald Trump
The gunman fired multiple shots with an AR-style rifle at the stage from an “elevated position outside of the rally venue,” the Secret Service said.
Analysis of more than a dozen videos and photos from the Trump rally, as well as satellite imagery of the site, showed the shooter was able to get close to where Trump was speaking, according to the Associated Press.
The shooter was less than 500ft from the stage.
In an interview aired by the BBC heard from an eyewitness who said he’d pointed out the gunman to the Secret Service minutes before the attack too place.
The man, identified only as Greg, said: “We’re pointing at the guy crawling up the roof. We could clearly see him with a rifle.
“I’m standing there pointing at him for two to three minutes. Secret Service is looking at us from the top of the barn, I’m pointing at the roof…and next thing you know, five shots rang out.”
The man said the shooting came from outside the secured perimeter.
The FBI has taken over the investigation of the attack. At a briefing late on Saturday, FBI officials told reporters it was surprising that the suspect was able to fire multiple shots.
Members of the Secret Service’s counter sniper team and counter assault team were at the rally, according to two law enforcement officials.
The heavily-armed counter assault team, whose Secret Service code name is “Hawkeye,” is responsible for eliminating threats so that other agents can shield and take away the person they are protecting.
The counter sniper team, known by the code name “Hercules,” uses long-range binoculars and is equipped with sniper rifles to deal with long-range threats.
The Oversight Committee in the Republican-led US House of Representatives summoned US Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle to testify at a hearing scheduled for July 22.
“Americans demand answers about the assassination attempt of President Trump,” the panel said in a statement on social media.
US Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas said: “We condemn this violence in the strongest possible terms and commend the Secret Service for their swift action.
“We are engaged with President Biden, former President Trump and their campaigns, and are taking every possible measure to ensure their safety and security.”
Trump supporters also blasted the Secret Service. “How was a sniper with a full rifle kit allowed to bear crawl onto the closest roof to a presidential nominee,” asked conservative activist Jack Posobiec on social media site X.
