Everyone in the United States knows how terrible it was that the US Secret Service (USSS) wasn’t there to protect former President Donald Trump at his recent campaign gathering in Butler, Pennsylvania. He was almost killed.
But it’s possible that you don’t know anything about how the USSS failed before and during the riot at the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021. The newly made public version of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS IG) report, which has some parts redacted, shows the worst kind of bureaucratic coverup.
If you are shocked or confused to learn that the USSS, an organization whose main job is to protect presidents, played a part in the chaos on January 6, remember that Vice President Mike Pence had to be in the Capitol to confirm the results of the 2020 presidential election in the Electoral College.
Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris went to the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee (DNC). The headquarters are close to the political office buildings on the House side of the Capitol grounds.
The FBI and USSS are still unsure of who planted the pipe bombs at the DNC and near the Republican National Committee (RNC) building, or why they did it. This means that the investigation is still not complete and is therefore a failure, similar to the USSS’s failed investigation into the cocaine found in the White House.
Only because the Subcommittee on Oversight Chairman Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.) compelled Alejandro Mayorkas to provide the document to Congress—informing the impeached DHS Secretary in a January 24 letter—
According to a different source, the Subcommittee received proof that the US Secret Service report on “Preparing for and Responding to the Events of January 6, 2021” is complete. We also know that the Secret Service has looked over this report and given it the all-clear.
“So, you are the only one stopping the DHS Inspector General from giving this report to Congress.” There is no reason for your delay, given the events of July 13, 2024, which were yet another failure by the U.S. Secret Service (USSS) to find and stop a major threat to a protected person.
As a result, Mayorkas only allowed the IG report to reach Congress after a nearly successful attempt to kill Trump. There are two reasons why this kind of blocking is wrong:
In the United States, Congress is the first part of the government. When using its constitutional power correctly, Congress has the unquestionable right to get any record that any executive branch department or office produces. “Under the Constitution, Congress has all the ultimate tools in any fight with either of the other two branches,” Kendall and Carey wrote in their important book.
Additionally, the Inspectors-General Act of 1978, which was one of the most important things President Jimmy Carter did during his one term, says that the IGs must answer to Congress and not to department heads like Mayorkas.
Yes, Mayorkas had the final say on making the report public, but the law makes it clear that delays like these are not acceptable because Congress wanted the IGs to answer to them. And Mayorkas’s delay was clearly not for good reasons, as Loudermilk explained:
“Since Secretary Mayorkas’ approval in 2021, DHS has consistently obstructed, delayed, or refused the DHS Inspector General (IG) from carrying out its duties, as mandated by the Inspector General Act of 1978. For example, they could refuse to hand over documents because of the Presidential Records Act and the Privacy Act, or they could tell DHS workers not to give records straight to the DHS OIG.
Author: Steven Sinclaire
