As the F.B.I. investigates the attempt to assassinate former President Donald J. Trump at a campaign rally, Congress and the Homeland Security Department have begun their own inquiries into broader security failures, including by the Secret Service, that allowed the attack to take place.
The overlapping investigations, some just announced and others fully underway, aim to understand how a 20-year-old gunman was able to fire at Mr. Trump at the rally in western Pennsylvania, injuring the former president, killing an audience member and gravely wounding two others.
Here’s what to know about the inquiries:
Who is investigating the attempt on Mr. Trump’s life?
While the F.B.I.’s criminal investigation looks to unearth the shooter’s motives, other inquiries are expected to focus on security failures tied to the attack.
The Secret Service is charged with protecting the nation’s leaders, including former presidents. The agency, part of the Homeland Security Department, also works with local law enforcement to secure events like political rallies and other appearances.
Congress has oversight over the Secret Service, and at least four committees in the House and Senate have signaled that they will begin inquiries, with the first hearings scheduled for next week. President Biden has also announced his intention to start an independent national security investigation.
Within the Homeland Security Department, there will be at least two inquiries: one by the Office of the Inspector General, which is tasked with broad oversight over the agency, and one by the Secret Service itself to examine internal failures.
What are the investigations looking for?
The investigations look at both the internal security failures that enabled an attack on a former president and at external factors, including why the shooter tried to kill Mr. Trump and whether the episode was part of a larger plot.
It had been 52 years since a presidential candidate was killed or hurt in an attack, though as president, Ronald Reagan was seriously injured in 1981, two months after his inauguration, when he was shot outside a hotel in Washington.
Previous shootings of sitting presidents and candidates for the office set off extensive congressional investigations, as well as probes from the Secret Service, state and local law enforcement agencies and prosecutors. A broader conspiracy was found in only one of at least 15 previous attacks: the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln in 1865.
Among the questions facing the Secret Service are why it did not adequately secure the building where the gunman fired from the roof, which was less than 500 feet from the stage where Mr. Trump was speaking. Lawmakers have also pointed fingers at the conduct of agents in the moments after the shooting, including allowing Mr. Trump to linger on the stage and raise a fist before the crowd.
How is the F.B.I. investigation progressing?
The F.B.I. is leading the main criminal investigation into the shooting. Federal officials said they have found no evidence that the shooting was part of a larger plot, but have not ruled out any scenario.
The F.B.I. said Monday that it had gained access to the shooter’s cellphone. But they still do not have a motive for the gunman, identified by law enforcement as Thomas Matthew Crooks. He had no criminal history and no known strong political beliefs. Federal investigators hope that the data on his password-protected phone will shed light on the shooting.
If the shooter acted alone, it is unlikely any criminal charges will be brought, as Mr. Crooks was killed by a Secret Service sniper at the scene.
What is the Homeland Security Department examining?
Alejandro N. Mayorkas, the homeland security secretary, called the shooting a security failure and said the department would conduct an internal investigation.
“We have a fail-proof responsibility,” he said in an interview on CNN that aired Monday. But Mr. Mayorkas said he remained confident in the Secret Service and its director, Kimberly A. Cheatle.
The department’s inspector general has a mandate to review the Secret Service, making an investigation inevitable. Independent investigations led by Congress or directed by external officials are more likely to shed light on security failures leading up to the attack.
In her statement on Monday, Ms. Cheatle said the Secret Service was working with federal, state and local agencies “to understand what happened, how it happened, and how we can prevent an incident like this from ever taking place again.” She said the agency would “participate fully” in the independent review announced by President Biden, as well as cooperating with congressional committees.
Will Congress launch an independent commission to investigate?
At least five congressional committees in the House and Senate have held briefings or called hearings on the shooting. Ms. Cheatle is expected to testify before the House Oversight Committee on Monday, in the first of three hearings on Capitol Hill next week about the assassination attempt.
Ahead of Ms. Cheatle’s testimony, the oversight panel’s leader, Representative James R. Comer, Republican of Kentucky, and Representative Mark E. Green, Republican of Tennessee, who leads the House Homeland Security Committee, which has also committed to investigating the shooting, have demanded a trove of documents, recordings and communications from Ms. Cheatle and other top federal law enforcement officials.
They have asked for the security plan for the rally and other documents and communications, including those that took place in the aftermath of the shooting.
Mr. Green has also asked Ms. Cheatle, Mr. Mayorkas and Christopher Wray, the director of the F.B.I., to testify before his panel next week, saying: “The American people want answers.”
The House Judiciary Committee will hear from Mr. Wray next Wednesday, the third hearing related to the attack at the rally.
Some lawmakers have called for an independent commission to lead an investigation, along the lines of the Warren Commission that examined the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
Because Congress can demand and review documents and evidence from across federal, state and local agencies, a congressional investigation would probably be best equipped to present a thorough, independent review of the assassination attempt. But its answers may not prove satisfactory to everyone, as was the case with the Warren Commission, whose conclusion that the gunman Lee Harvey Oswald had acted alone has been the subject of speculation and debate for decades.
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