Kelly says Secret Service being put under DHS 'took away their identity and their exclusivity'

The chair for the House task force assembled to review the assassination attempts on President-elect Trump’s life said that the Secret Service being put under the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) “took away their identity and their exclusivity.”

“They don't have the leadership they need … when they morphed them into Homeland Security back in 2001 … whenever it was, they took away their identity and their exclusivity,” Rep. Mike Kelly (R-Pa.) told CBS News’s Margaret Brennan in a “Face the Nation” interview that aired Sunday, which also featured task force ranking member Jason Crow (D-Colo.).

Formerly part of the Department of the Treasury, the Secret Service in 2003 became part of the DHS.

“When you're the best of the best, when you're the elite of the elites, if you lose that, then all of a sudden you just become part of a team,” Kelly said in his CBS News interview.

On Thursday, Kelly's task force had its final meeting in which the acting Secret Service director was grilled and lawmakers voted on releasing a final report. 

The Secret Service has faced recent scrutiny for assassination attempts against Trump, with the current acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe stepping into the role after his predecessor resigned when lawmakers criticized her for a lack of transparency. 

“I'm telling you, on July 13, there was a lack of professionalism, there was a lack of concern, there was a lack of coordination and the ability to communicate is the one thing I'll never understand,” Kelly told Brennan, referencing the day the first Trump assassination attempt took place.

Back in 2020, the Trump administration was looking into the option of returning the Secret Service back to the Treasury Department.

“We think it will very much help us in combating money laundering and terrorist activities,” former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin told Fox News at the time.

The Hill has reached out to the DHS and Secret Service for comment.