Senate Committee Highlights Secret Service Failure In Butler

The Senate Homeland Security Committee released a report Wednesday outlining the “preventable” Secret Service security lapses that led to an assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump on July 13.

The report highlighted a lack of clear command structure and major communication breakdowns that were “foreseeable, preventable, and directly related to” the events. As a result, Trump was nearly killed by 20-year-old gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks during a rally in Butler County, Pennsylvania. This incident sparked widespread criticism and bipartisan calls for action.

The 9 different ways Secret Service could have prevented the Butler shooting:

1. Secure water tower
2. Use drone
3. Camera on roof
4. Agents on roof
5. Surround AGR building
6. Clear the AGR complex
7. Better comms
8. Walkthroughs
9. 1 Command post

USSS is STILL not prepared. pic.twitter.com/dnaqvgyF5z

— Rep. Pat Fallon (@RepPatFallon) September 26, 2024

“From planning missteps, to the siloed and flawed communication to the lack of effective coordination between law enforcement, to the breakdowns in technology, the Secret Service’s failures that allowed an assassination attempt on former President Trump at his July 13 rally were shocking, unacceptable, and preventable – and they led to tragic consequences,” Chairman Gary Peters said in a press release.

“This was a failure on the part of the United States Secret Service,” Secret Service acting Director Ronald Rowe said following the Senate report. “It’s important that we hold ourselves to account for the failures of July 13th and that we use the lessons learned to make sure that we do not have another failure like this again.”

The Secret Service had issued its own report five days before the Senate’s, citing similar shortcomings. The five-page report confirmed that several “communications deficiencies” had ultimately “inhibited the collective awareness” of federal and local law enforcement responsible for securing the rally.

Some shocking details revealed from the Secret Service regarding their multiple failures with the assassination attempts against President Trump. pic.twitter.com/YuIjrPrmxZ

— Dennis Prager (@DennisPrager) September 27, 2024

The Senate’s findings included an interview with a Secret Service counter sniper who reportedly saw officers aiming firearms toward the building where Crooks was stationed but did not think to alert anyone to evacuate the former president. Crooks had been flagged by several attendees, identified by the Secret Service, and recognized by a local counter sniper over an hour before Trump took the stage.

The counter sniper, who lacked a clear line of sight, had only been assigned to the rally due to “credible intelligence” of a threat, according to the report. Previously, there were no snipers designated for the rally.

The Senate committee also criticized Secret Service agents for “denying individual responsibility” and “deflecting blame” for the security breaches. The report noted that agents could not determine who made the final decisions on rally security.

“Our initial findings clearly show a series of multiple failures of the U.S. Secret Service (USSS) and an inexcusable dereliction of duty,” ranking member Rand Paul said in a press release. “Not only did USSS fail to ensure the AGR roof was adequately covered, they were also aware of a suspicious individual with a rangefinder for at least 27 minutes and did not delay proceedings or remove former President Trump from the stage, even after being informed that the suspicious individual was on the roof of the AGR building.”

“Someone needs to be held accountable for these egregious failures by the USSS, and despite USSS, DHS, FBI, ATF, and other federal agencies’ continued obstruction of our bipartisan investigation, I will continue to push for answers and accountability,” Paul added.

Two months after the Butler rally shooting, 58-year-old Ryan Wesley Routh was arrested and charged with several federal crimes, including attempting to assassinate a presidential candidate. His “AK-47 style rifle with a scope” was spotted by a Secret Service agent on the Trump International Golf Course in West Palm Beach, Florida.

U.S. Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi confirmed in a statement to The Associated Press on Wednesday that Trump’s security detail had already been elevated to the “highest level of protection that the U.S. Secret Service can provide.”

“We are also diligently examining long-term solutions to challenges such as enhancing communications and interoperability with our federal, state and local partners to make sure our coordinated efforts during protective events are seamless,” Guglielmi said.