Originally published at National Catholic Register
MY FAVORITE STORY OF THE YEAR
It’s a funny choice for my “favorite” story of the year, but covering the House Oversight Committee hearing on the first assassination attempt of President-elect Donald Trump left a deep impression on me. The story of the sniper’s bullet whizzing by Trump’s head at an outdoor rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, will be told and retold for decades, if not centuries. And at the Capitol in July, I sat front row for official deliberations concerning the Secret Service’s mishandling of the moment.
Like most, I’m still processing the failures of the Secret Service, which were profound to the point of being bizarre. Each layer that was peeled back only raised more questions. The repetitive stonewalling from Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle took even Democratic members by surprise. We ultimately learned little from the four-hour grilling. I will never forget the looks of sincere bewilderment in the room that day. It was unsettling how little our leaders seemed to understand.
And all the while, I kept replaying in my mind the shot of Trump swiveling his head at the precise moment to escape death. It’s one thing to witness history, but another thing altogether
