The Senate Homeland Security Committee released a report Wednesday detailing “preventable” Secret Service security failures that led to the July 13 assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump.
Leading up to the assassination attempt, there was no clear chain of command and there were significant communication discrepancies that were “foreseeable, preventable, and directly related” to the events that occurred. According to As a result, Trump was nearly assassinated by 20-year-old gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks during a rally in Butler County, Pennsylvania, in July, sparking furious criticism and bipartisan calls for action. (Related article: Secret Service blames communications 'glitch' for failure to thwart Trump assassination attempt)
“From failed planning to siloed and flawed communication, to a lack of effective coordination between law enforcement agencies, to technology failures, the Secret Service failures that allowed the assassination attempt on former President Trump at the July 13 rally were shocking, unacceptable and preventable, yet led to tragic results,” Chairman Gary Peters said. said In a press release.
BUTLER, PA – JULY 13: U.S. Secret Service agents and counter-assault teams respond shortly after shots are fired at former Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump during a campaign rally at the Butler Farm Show Co. in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday, July 13, 2024. (Photo by Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
“This is a failure of the United States Secret Service,” said Acting Director of the Secret Service Ronald Rowe. said After the Senate report was released, he said: “It is important that we take responsibility for the failure of July 13th and use the lessons we learned to ensure that such a mistake is never repeated.”
Secret Service release Just five days before the Senate filed its own report detailing similar failures. The five-page report found that several “communication deficiencies” ultimately “impeded collective awareness” of federal and local law enforcement agencies tasked with securing the rally. (Related: House unanimously passes bill to strengthen Secret Service protection for presidential candidates)
The Senate report repeated these “preventable” failures, including an interview with a Secret Service counter-sniper who allegedly saw police officers pointing their guns at the building where Crooks was, but who made no attempt to alert anyone to evacuate the former president from the rally stage. On the day of the rally, Crooks Discovered It was spotted by several attendees, followed by the Secret Service and identified by a local counter sniper, more than an hour before Trump took the stage.
The report said blind counter-snipers were assigned to the rally only because there was “credible information” about a threat — no snipers had been assigned to the rally before.
The Senate committee report also criticized Secret Service officials for “denying any individual responsibility” for security failures, deflecting blame and failing to identify who made the final decisions on the rally's security plan, the report said.
“The initial findings clearly demonstrate a series of multiple failures and inexcusable derelictions of duty by the United States Secret Service (USSS),” Ranking Member Rand Paul said in a press release. “Not only did the USSS fail to ensure that the roof of the AGR was properly covered, but they also failed to delay the proceedings or remove former President Trump from the stage after being informed that a suspicious individual was on the roof of the AGR building, despite being aware of the presence of a suspicious individual with a rangefinder for at least 27 minutes.”
“Someone must be held accountable for these egregious failures by the USSS, and I will continue to demand accountability and clarification, even as the USSS, DHS, FBI, ATF and other federal agencies continue to obstruct our bipartisan investigation,” Paul continued. (RELATED: 'Nearly irresponsible': Democratic lawmakers slam DHS for inaction in assassination attempt investigation, threaten subpoenas)
Just two months after the Butler rally shooting, 58-year-old Ryan Wesley Routh was arrested and charged with several federal charges, including attempted assassination of the presidential candidate, after Secret Service agents found him carrying a “scoped AK-47-style rifle” at the Trump International Golf Course in West Palm Beach, Florida.
U.S. Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said: statement According to information obtained by The Associated Press on Wednesday, the Secret Service has already increased Trump's security forces to “the highest level of protection that the United States Secret Service can provide.”
“We are also actively looking at longer-term solutions to challenges such as strengthening communication and interoperability with our federal, state and local partners to ensure coordinated efforts during protection events can proceed smoothly,” Guglielmi said.
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