Secret Service report reveals multiple flaws in attack on Trump during Republican rally in July
A report released this Friday reveals that failures in communication with local authorities hampered the performance of the US Secret Service in the attack on former President Donald Trump in July.
A five-page document summarizing the Secret Service report’s key findings finds flaws in local and federal authorities that preceded the July 13 shooting at campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvaniawhere Trump was injured in the ear.
While the botched response has been well documented through congressional testimony, media investigations and other public statements, the report released today marks the Secret Service’s most formal attempt to catalog the day’s mistakes.
“It is important that we take responsibility for the failures of July 13th and that we use the lessons learned to ensure that we do not have another mission failure like this one again,” said Acting Director of the Secret Service, Ronald Rowe Jr., following the release of the report on the agency’s own internal investigation.
The report reveals a series of “communication deficiencies” before the shooting by Thomas Matthew Crooks, aged 20who was shot by a Secret Service counter-sniper after firing eight shots at Trump from the roof of a building less than 150 meters away.
The report adds that the Secret Service knew even before the shooting that the rally location posed a security challenge.
Among the problems detected is the fact that some local police officers present at the scene were not aware of the existence of two communications centers on site, which means that the agents were not aware that the Secret Services were not receiving their transmission. radio.
Law enforcement authorities also communicated vital information outside Secret Service radio frequencies.
This lapse was especially problematic for Trump’s protection team, “who were not aware of how focused state and local authorities were, in the minutes leading up to the attack, on locating the suspicious subject.”
If they had known, the report says, they could have made the decision to protect Trump while the search was ongoing.
The report also raises serious questions about why no police were stationed on the roof that Crooks climbed onto before opening fire.
On the other hand, the tactical team operating on the second floor of the building had no contact with the Secret Service before the rally.
This team was brought in by a local police department to help with the event, without the knowledge of the Secret Service, the report states.
The Secret Service knew in advance that the rally location — chosen by Trump’s team because it better accommodated the “large number of desired participants” — was a security challenge due to the lines of sight that could be exploited by a potential attacker.
The report does not identify specific individuals who may be at fault or indicate whether any staff members were targeted, although it was reported in US media that at least five Secret Service agents were assigned to other duties.
The agency’s director at the time, Kimberly Cheatle, resigned more than a week after the attack, saying that took full responsibility for the lapses.
The Secret Service investigation is one of numerous investigations, including by Congress and a surveillance investigation carried out by the Department of Homeland Security’s office of inspector general.
