Topline
No specific law enforcement agency was responsible for covering the building where the gunman who shot at former President Donald Trump earlier this summer was perched, a Secret Service agent allegedly told the Senate committee investigating the incident—among multiple “foreseeable, preventable” lapses in planning and communication detailed in a new report Wednesday.
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump is rushed offstage during a rally on … [+]
Key Facts
The interim report from the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee is the latest to allege disorganization, planning disagreements and communication “failures” by the Secret Service and local law enforcement covering Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, where a gunman attempted to assassinate the former president and killed a rally attendee on July 13.
Among the findings: a Secret Service counter sniper told the committee in an interview they saw local law enforcement running toward the building where the gunman was hiding on the roof with their guns drawn, but it “did not cross [their] mind” to alert Trump’s detail to remove him from the stage where he was speaking.
The head of the Secret Service’s counter sniper team said the agency identified the rooftop used by the gunman as a possible vulnerability ahead of time—but the Senate panel concludes the rooftop wasn’t adequately covered by local and Secret Service snipers.
The report suggests the Secret Service and local, state and federal law enforcement failed to adequately coordinate security plans ahead of the rally and had only two “official” meetings beforehand, adding a Secret Service agent told the committee in an interview there was “no specific” agency responsible for securing the building.
An officer with the Butler County Emergency Services Unit also allegedly told the committee they informed the Secret Service site agent two days prior to the rally that local law enforcement “did not have the manpower to lock down” the area where the building was located, yet the site agent told lawmakers they believed the county department would cover the building.
Key Background
Thomas Matthew Crooks fired eight shots at Trump from the roof of a building less than 150 years from the stage where Trump was speaking before he was killed by a Secret Service counter-sniper. The gunfire grazed Trump in the right ear, killed a bystander and critically wounded two others. The Secret Service has previously acknowledged security failures at the rally, including a fraught decision-making process detailed in an internal review released Friday. The report found Trump’s security detail was not informed that local law enforcement were searching for “the suspicious subject” in the moments leading up to the attack, among multiple measures that could have been taken to prevent the incident, including using a drone to detect the drone Crooks used to scope the site hours before the event.
Further Reading
Secret Service Report Says These Failures Led Up To Trump Assassination Attempt In July (Forbes)
Three Snipers Were Inside Building Trump Rally Shooter Fired From, Reports Say (Forbes)
What We Know About The Attempted Assassination Of Donald Trump (Forbes)
