ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Since the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump, the U.S. Secret Service has been criticized for security failures.

As Congress investigates, there is an online claim from someone purporting to be the agent who shot and killed the gunman — and it’s being shared on social media platforms like “X” and TikTok.

News10NBC’s Brett Davidsen set out to Fact Check that claim.

The social media post claim a man named Jonathan Willis is the man who killed the gunman on July 13. One post has almost seven million views. The story actually originated from a claim posted on the message board 4chan a day after the assassination attempt on Trump.News10NBC found an archived version of it.

The person who posted it said their name was U.S. Secret Service agent Jonathan Willis and claimed he had the assassin in his sights for at least three minutes but top brass refused to give the order to take out the perp.

So Brett reached out to the U.S. Secret Service to find out if that was the case. It turns out there was no sniper named Jonathan Willis assigned to the rally.

In an emailed response, U.S. Secret Service spokesman Nathan Herring told Brett:

“This claim is categorically false. There is no U.S. Secret Service employee by that name.”

In a follow up email, he went on to say:

“Our personnel are well-versed on rules of engagement, and do not have to receive any type of approval to neutralize a credible threat once it is identified.”

So, while there are still many questions about how the assassin was able to get a clear shot at former President Trump, claims of an agent named Jonathan Willis being told to stand down are false.

In the aftermath of the assassination attempt, Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle has resigned. President Biden has ordered an independent review to assess what happened.