There remains a host of pressing and unanswered questions about the apparent security failure that resulted in the July 13 assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, some of which have been answered by anonymous whistleblowers and not senior federal officials.

 the shocking claim shared by Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) that a majority of Trump's security detail were "unprepared and inexperienced" Department of Homeland Security agents and not members of the U.S. Secret Service, the Daily Wire reported.

That bombshell revelation was included in a scathing letter the Republican senator from Missouri sent on Friday to DHS Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas and demanded swift answers to a series of pertinent questions about the undeniable failure to protect the former president and Republican nominee fully.

Most security personnel were not Secret Service agents

In an X post on Friday morning, Sen. Hawley said, "Whistleblowers tell me that MOST of Trump’s security detail working the event last Saturday were not even Secret Service. DHS assigned unprepared and inexperienced personnel."

Attached to that post was a copy of Hawley's letter to Sec. Mayorkas "to raise concerns brought to me by whistleblowers about your department’s stunning failure to protect former President Trump on July 13, 2024."

"Whistleblowers who have direct knowledge of the event have approached my office. According to the allegations, the July 13 rally was considered to be a 'loose' security event," he wrote. "For example, detection canines were not used to monitor entry and detect threats in the usual manner. Individuals without proper designations were able to gain access to backstage areas. Department personnel did not appropriately police the security buffer around the podium and were also not stationed at regular intervals around the event’s security perimeter."

"In addition, whistleblower allegations suggest the majority of DHS officials were not in fact USSS agents but instead drawn from the department’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI)," the senator continued. "This is especially concerning given that HSI agents were unfamiliar with standard protocols typically used at these types of events, according to the allegations."

Unanswered questions about DHS' "staggering security failures"

Sen. Hawley noted in his letter to Sec. Mayorkas that, as a member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, he and others would "continue to investigate your department’s role in the staggering security failures on July 13."

"Unfortunately, your department has not been appropriately forthcoming with Members of Congress -- abruptly ending the only call with USSS before most senators could even ask a question. This is completely unacceptable and contrary to the public’s interest in transparency," he wrote. "Instead, we have learned more from whistleblowers than your department’s officials."

The senator concluded his letter to the DHS secretary with a demand for a response within a week to a series of unanswered questions, including how DHS determined who would staff the July 13, what percentage of the security detail were HSI agents and local law enforcement versus Secret Service agents, and whether the non-USSS personnel were properly trained and whether protocols were properly followed, among other things.

Hawley has insisted upon a full and transparent investigation

Previously, in the immediate aftermath of the assassination attempt against former President Trump, Sen. Hawley called for a "full-scale investigation" of the incident by Congress, including his committee and others with relevant jurisdiction and oversight of DHS, of which the Secret Service is a part.

"This HSGAC investigation must include public testimony, hearings, and robust oversight over the relevant federal departments as they respond to this assassination attempt," he said at the time. "Sworn testimony must be heard from Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, and Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle. Nothing should be classified or withheld from the public."

Hawley also sent a letter earlier in the week to the DHS Inspector General that urged an internal investigation and demanded certain records be turned over to Congress.

He also established an anonymous tip line for whistleblowers to share information about what occurred, which led to the damning allegations that were laid out in Friday's letter to Sec. Mayorkas.