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Floor Speech

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Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I heard the remarks a few minutes ago of the Republican leader of the Senate, and I wanted to respond because he referred to our Senate Judiciary Committee. What happened in Butler, PA, the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump, was shocking and unacceptable conduct on the part of those who were authorized and responsible for his safety.

There is no question in my mind that there is a bipartisan feeling that we may have our differences on issues and other matters, but when it comes to the protection of all elected officials, particularly in this case a former President of the United States, we should all put the resources necessary and strategy necessary to keep them safe at all times. Thank God Donald Trump, whom I disagree with on many issues, survived that experience. It would have been horrible for this Nation and for his family if the wind had changed a little bit. He was 1 inch away from losing his life. Let's be honest about it.

How in the world did that happen? With all of the law enforcement and all of the Federal officials present, what went wrong? Well, the former Director, who resigned today, said that there was a failure, and she accepted responsibility for it. I think we have to get more information as this case develops, but we want to do it in an orderly fashion.

The House hearing yesterday was the beginning; 5 hours of testimony that revealed some things, but clearly not enough when it comes to what happened on that day. And the decision at the Senate level has been the subject of bipartisan cooperation from the start.

There is nothing partisan about this issue. There shouldn't be. And for anyone to suggest that we are not responding to the needs of the Nation to learn valuable information, Senator McConnell is just wrong. And I invite him to reach out to the Republican leaders and the committees affected--the HSGAC committee as well as the Judiciary Committee--and he will learn that we have been working on a hearing for next week, which is the last week we are in session before the Democratic National Convention. And we are going to do our best to get the witnesses there who will produce the information so we learn more about it.

This has been a bipartisan effort from the start, and it should be. It should be all the way. There is no partisanship involved in the security and safety of elected officials. It is a bipartisan, nonpartisan issue, and we have to do everything in our power to keep people safe. So I am hoping that Senator McConnell will reach out to the staff of the Senate Judiciary Committee and the HSGAC committee, to realize that we are working on that hearing next week as we should.

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