Statewide Iowa (RI) — U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley met Monday in his Washington, D.C., office with Secret Service Director Sean Curran to discuss the weekend incident at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
A gunman tried to storm the dinner while President Trump was in attendance and shots were fired, though many questions remain about the suspect, security procedures, and how agents reacted to the threat.
Senator Dick Durbin, a Democrat from Illinois, also attended the briefing in Grassley’s office.
Grassley posted Monday on X that the overall Secret Service response to the incident has been “swift and transparent.”
Grassley says the Secret Service briefing lasted about a half hour, and he adds, “I commend their bravery.”
Iowa Congresswoman Ashley Hinson, a Republican from Marion, says there are two factors to address in the assassination attempts on the president. One is the venue for events.
Hinson says the second issue is that Democrats need to stop holding up funding for the Homeland Security Department. She says the Secret Service agents who stopped the threat Saturday are not being paid.
Hinson says that includes the safety of the president and those attending these types of events.
The man who’s in custody, 31-year-old Cole Allen of California, worked part-time as a teacher and game developer. Authorities say Allen was armed with a semi-automatic pistol and a shotgun. Charges against him include attempted assassination of the president.
KIWA Staff Photo
