President Donald Trump ordered the Secret Service to provide him “every bit of information” about two people who tried to assassinate him while he was running for president in 2024: Thomas Crooks and Ryan Routh.
The 19-year-old Crooks tried to assassinate Trump in July at a campaign rally in Butler, Pa.
CNN and Reuters reported that Crooks fired multiple shots, with one grazing Trump’s right ear.
Routh, 59, appeared to want to assassinate Trump in September while he was golfing at his International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Fla.
“I’m entitled to know,” Trump told The New York Post. “I want to find out about the two assassins. Why did one guy have six cell phones, and why did the other guy have apps?”
Chief of Communications for the U.S. Secret Service Anthony Guglielmi told Just the News on Monday that the agency would comply with Trump’s request.
“Any information held by the Secret Service will be provided to the President, without exception,” he said.
Trump also told the newspaper that the information would no longer be hidden from him because he was in the Oval Office.
“No more holding back because of Biden,” he said. “I’m entitled to know. And they held it back long enough. No excuses.”
The Post reported that authorities found six cell phones in Routh’s car and encrypted messaging accounts on Crook’s phone for platforms based in Belgium, New Zealand and Germany.
Trump National Security Advisor Michael Waltz questioned why Crooks would need to use multiple encrypted foreign apps, seeming to suggest that Iran attempted to assassinate Trump to prevent him from becoming the president.
“Why does a 19-year-old kid who is a health care aide need encrypted platforms not even based in the United States, but based abroad, where most terrorist organizations know it is harder for our law enforcement to get into? That’s a question I’ve had since day one,” he said, according to Fox News.
Waltz also criticized the FBI and Secret Service for not revealing the information to the public.
“They need to be releasing information as they come across it because this wasn’t an isolated incident,” he said. “The threats are continually Iran’s threats.”
Fox News also reports that Waltz, who, as a House member, was part of the congressional task force probing the assassination attempt, has been advising Trump on the matter.
