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Facing an ever-growing chorus of criticism, the Secret Service today attempted to be transparent and upfront about its potentially fatal errors protecting former President Donald Trump during a July campaign rally in Butler, PA in which Trump was shot and wounded.
“This was a failure on the part of the United States Secret Service. 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,” Acting Secret Service Director Ronald L. Rowe said Friday at a news conference accompanying the release of the summary.
Rowe promised the agency was moving into the self-described “accountability phase” of its investigation of its own practices.
The report noted multiple operational and communications failures, including the absence of some of the basic tenets of the U.S. Secret Service’s protective methodologies, among them, operational gaps due to a deficiency of established command and control, lapses in communication, and a lack of diligence by agency personnel.
“There were multiple standard conduits of communication that were not in operation on July 13, 2024, which if present would have increased the probability of pertinent information or context being conveyed.” according to the report.
“The failure of personnel to broadcast via radio the description of the assailant, or vital information received from local law enforcement regarding a suspicious individual on the roof of the AGR complex, to all federal personnel at the Butler site inhibited the collective awareness of all Secret Service personnel, the report reads. “This failure was especially acute in terms of the FPOTUS/RPN’s protective detail, who were not apprised of how focused state and local law enforcement were in the minutes leading up to the attack on locating the suspicious subject. If this information was passed over Secret Service radio frequencies it would have allowed FPOTUS/RPN’s protective detail to determine whether to move their protectee while the search for the suspicious suspect was in progress. Vital information was transmitted via mobile/cellular devices in staggered or fragmented fashion instead of being relayed via the Secret Service radio network.”
Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, climbed to the roof of a nearby building at the Butler Farm Show, where Trump’s rally was held, and fired multiple shots, one of which grazed Trump on the ear. Rally attendee Corey Comperatore was killed and another rally-goer wounded. A Secret Service sniper stationed near Trump returned fire, killing Crooks.
“It is important that we hold ourselves to account for the failures of July 13 and that we take the lessons learned to make sure that we do not have another mission failure like this again,” Rowe said at today’s news conference.
“What has become clear to me is that we need a shift in paradigm in how we conduct our operations,” Rowe said.
The report is expected to be finalized in the coming weeks.
Rowe took over as Acting Director of the Secret Service after its former director Kimberly Cheatle resigned after a turbulent hearing before Congress, in which she testfied that the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump was the “most significant operational failure” at the agency in decades.
Earlier this month, with tensions heightening, the upcoming counting and certification of electoral votes in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6, 2025 was designated for the first time as a National Special Security Event by the Secretary of Homeland Security.
“National Special Security Events are events of the highest national significance,” said Eric Ranaghan, the Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Secret Service’s Dignitary Protective Division. “The U.S. Secret Service, in collaboration with our federal, state, and local partners are committed to developing and implementing a comprehensive and integrated security plan to ensure the safety and security of this event and its participants.”
