Hawley demands Secret Service address Trump golf course 'vulnerabilities' exposed by whistleblower
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., on Wednesday sent a letter to acting U.S. Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe asking him about whistleblower allegations pertaining to the second assassination attempt against former President Trump in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Sunday.
A whistleblower "with direct knowledge of Secret Service protection at former President Trump’s golf course in West Palm Beach — an individual who has in fact protected President Trump at that very location" — alleged to Hawley's office earlier this week that "there are ‘known vulnerabilities’ in the fence line surrounding the course," including "places that offer a clear line of sight to the former president and others playing the course."
"As a result, the whistleblower alleges it has been Secret Service protocol to ‘post up’ agents at these vulnerable spots when Trump visits the course. That apparently did not happen on September 15," Hawley wrote in his letter to Rowe. "Instead, the gunman was permitted to remain along or near the fence line for some 12 hours."
Hawley told reporters on Thursday that the whistleblower said it "has been standard Secret Service protocol [that] there are known vulnerabilities at that course."
WATCH ON FOX NATION: THE ATTEMPTED ASSASSINATIONS OF DONALD TRUMP
"That is, areas where you can get a clear line of sight from off the course of people playing the course," Hawley explained. "So, it has been Secret Service protocol to station agents at these known sites before Trump would play the course. That apparently didn't happen. It sounds as if they didn't even sweep the perimeter. This is really strange. This is why the gunman was able to hang out there at one of these known vulnerable sites for twelve hours without anybody saying anything to him until Trump was within a few hundred yards."
Secret Service agents were able to neutralize the suspected threat on Sunday allegedly posed by Ryan Routh, who has been arrested and charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number. Authorities said more charges may be filed against Routh at a later date.
"We greatly respect the role of Congressional oversight and will respond to any request for briefings or other information through official channels," the USSS told Fox News Digital in response to Hawley's letter.
Hawley added in his letter that it is also unclear "whether agents swept the perimeter of the golf course at any point, or whether drones were used to surveil the fence line" on Sunday while the former president was golfing.
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"The reality is that the would-be assassin should never have been able to linger around the course for that long undetected," the senator wrote.
He continued to ask whether Secret Service personnel were posted at the "known vulnerability" locations along the Trump International Golf Club perimeter fencing; whether personnel did a sweep of the perimeter prior to the former president's arrival on the course; if they used "canine units or Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) elements to monitor the perimeter"; if counter surveillance personnel were at the golf course; and what the "specific counter surveillance mitigation plan" was that day.
Hawley does not currently sit on the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which is looking into the two assassination attempts on Trump since July, but the Missouri senator has been conducting his own independent investigation into both attempts.