By Steve Neavling
A bipartisan Senate investigation released Wednesday revealed that multiple Secret Service failures ahead of former President Trump’s July rally, where a gunman opened fire, were “foreseeable, preventable, and directly related to the events resulting in the assassination attempt that day.”
The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee’s interim report highlighted numerous breakdowns in planning, communication, security, and resource allocation in the lead-up to the Butler, Pa., shooting, echoing findings from both an internal Secret Service investigation and an ongoing House probe, the Associated Press reports.
“The consequences of those failures were dire,” Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., said.
Investigators discovered no clear chain of command among the Secret Service and other security agencies, as well as a lack of coverage for the building where the shooter climbed to fire shots. Communications were fragmented, with officials using multiple, separate radio channels, leading to critical missed information. An inexperienced drone operator was also delayed by technical issues and had to call a help line when his equipment malfunctioned.
Peters remarked that security communications were like a “multi-step game of telephone.”
The report revealed that the Secret Service was alerted to a person on the roof approximately two minutes before shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire. Crooks fired eight rounds in Trump’s direction from less than 150 yards away, striking Trump in the ear with either a bullet or fragment. A rally attendee was killed, and two others were injured before a Secret Service counter-sniper shot and killed the gunman.
Just 22 seconds before Crooks fired, a local officer radioed an alert about an armed individual on the roof. However, this information was never relayed to key Secret Service personnel interviewed by Senate investigators. A Secret Service counter-sniper reported seeing officers running toward the building with their guns drawn but admitted they didn’t think to alert anyone to remove Trump from the stage.
The Senate report was released shortly after the Secret Service summarized the key conclusions of its own investigation, which is still ongoing. A House task force is also set to hold a hearing on the shooting, along with a second assassination attempt on Trump earlier this month when Secret Service agents arrested a man with a rifle hiding on Trump’s Florida golf course.
Each investigation has uncovered new details reflecting significant security failures, and lawmakers are determined to find more answers to prevent similar incidents in the future.
The title of this article is misleading. Nothing the USSS did had a causal relationship with the assassination attempt. This is equivalent to saying that leaving you car unlocked or wearing provocative clothing led to the car being stolen or you being sexually assaulted. Surely the USSS could have done more, but they are not to blame for the assignation attempt.