U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) on Thursday sent a letter to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas revealing new whistleblower allegations that the Secret Service turned down offers to use drones to secure the July 13 Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, where the former president was nearly assassinated.

In his letter, the Missouri Republican demanded that the DHS, the agency which oversees the U.S. Secret Service (USSS), turns over all records concerning the availability or use of drones at the Butler rally.

“According to one whistleblower, the night before the rally, U.S. Secret Service repeatedly denied offers from a local law enforcement partner to utilize drone technology to secure the rally,” Sen. Hawley wrote.

“This means that the technology was both available to USSS and able to be deployed to secure the site. Secret Service said no,” he continued.

Hawley added that the whistleblower further alleged that it was only after the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump that the Secret Service “changed course” and asked the local law enforcement partner to deploy the drone technology to surveil the rally site.

Reports that Trump’s would-be assassin, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, used a drone to survey the Butler rally site in preparation for his attack were confirmed by FBI Director Christopher Wray in testimony before Congress on Wednesday.

Director Wray confirmed to lawmakers that Crooks used a drone approximately two hours before President Trump took the stage in Butler.

“It is hard to understand why USSS would decline to use drones when they were offered, particularly given the fact USSS permitted the shooter to overfly the rally area with his own drone mere hours before event,” Sen. Hawley wrote to Mayorkas.

“The failure to deploy drone technology is all the more concerning since, according to the whistleblower, the drones USSS was offered had the capability not only to identify active shooters but also to help neutralize them,” he wrote.

Hawley demanded that Mayorkas turn over “all records and communications concerning the availability or use of drones at the July 13, 2024 rally in Butler” by Thursday, August 1, and that he testify before Congress next week regarding the DHS’ “staggering security failures.”