A new report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) details the U.S. Secret Service’s security lapses during the first attempted assassination of then-presidential candidate Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, a year ago this month.
The report, commissioned by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, reveals that the Secret Service received classified intelligence about a threat to Donald Trump’s life 10 days before the Butler rally but failed to share the information with other critical agencies.
It also highlights a series of procedural and planning failures, including “misallocation of resources, inadequate training, and widespread communication breakdowns,” which contributed to the near-assassination, Fox News reported.
“One year ago, a series of bad decisions and bureaucratic handicaps led to one of the most shocking moments in political history,” Grassley said. “The Secret Service’s failure on July 13 was the culmination of years of mismanagement and came after the Biden administration denied requests for enhanced security to protect President Trump.
“Americans should be grateful that President Trump survived that day and was ultimately reelected to restore common sense to our country,” he added.
Trump, whose campaign had requested enhanced security but was denied by the Biden administration, was grazed in the right ear while speaking to the crowd. Secret Service agents immediately rushed to protect him, but as he was being escorted to safety, he famously rose to his feet, raised a clenched fist, and urged the stunned crowd to “Fight, fight, fight.”
One rallygoer, Cory Comperatore, was killed shielding his family, while two others were injured. The shooter, 20-year-old Thomas Crooks, was fatally shot by counter-snipers as he crouched on the roof of a nearby building.
“There were mistakes made, and that shouldn’t have happened,” Trump told his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, on Fox News.
The GAO’s nearly year-long investigation stands as the most extensive review to date of the attempted assassination.
The report notes that 10 days before the Butler rally, the Secret Service received a classified briefing on a serious threat to Trump’s life. “Once those officials reviewed the intelligence, they could have then requested that personnel within their chain of command be briefed on the specific information,” the report said.
Officials failed to disseminate the intelligence, leaving both federal and local law enforcement—including members of the Donald Trump Protective Division—unaware of the active threat. Local authorities told the GAO they would have requested additional resources for the Butler rally had they been informed, Fox reported, citing the report.
Also, the Secret Service agent who was responsible for “identif[ying] site vulnerabilities,” was new to her role. The Butler event was “her first time planning and securing a large outdoor event as the site agent,” said the report.
At the time of the Butler rally, the Secret Service had no formal policy for relaying requests from a protectee’s staff regarding changes to security plans. A Trump campaign staffer had asked the Secret Service advance team—unaware of the active threat to Trump—not to use large farm equipment to block the line of sight near a building, fearing it would obstruct press photos.
The advance team complied, a decision that may have given Crooks a clearer line of fire from his rooftop position.
Secret Service also officials rejected a request from the Donald Trump Protective Division for enhanced counter-Unmanned Aerial Surveillance (cUAS) equipment at the Butler rally because “these resources had already been allocated for the Republican and Democratic National Conventions.”
Fortunately, senior officials with knowledge of the threat against Trump intervened to approve the deployment of counter-sniper assets for the rally, a decision that likely helped save Trump’s life.
The Secret Service confirmed to Fox News that in February, supervisors and line-level agents received unpaid suspensions ranging from 10 to 42 days.