Secret Service agents failed to ensure proper security measures were in place that could have prevented Donald Trump's would-be assassin from seeing the former president at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, according to a damning internal investigation.
Agents at Secret Service headquarters and the Pittsburgh field office discussed plans to use cranes, trucks and flags to block the line of sight from the AGR International building — where Trump's would-be assassin opened fire — to the stage where the president was shot, officials said. told the washington post,
Instead, Secret Service observers who arrived on the scene on July 13 found that heavy equipment and flags were placed on the Butler Farm show grounds in a way that did not obstruct the view between the AGR building and the stage, according to the investigation, whose findings It could be released next week, According to officials, this was stated in the report.
The internal investigation ordered by acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe also found that the agency never instructed local police to secure the rooftop from which the 20-year-old committed suicide. gunsmith Thomas Matthew Crooks Tried to assassinate Trump.
Crooks, sitting on the roof of a building about 130 yards from the rally stage, had a clear view when he fired eight rounds, killing one rally attendee, wounding two others and striking Trump in his ear.
The gunman was then killed The attack was carried out by a Secret Service counter sniper.
Immediately after the shooting, The Secret Service insisted The local police were responsible for the security and patrolling of AGR International's factory grounds – which was located outside the rally grounds.
According to the Washington Post, the internal investigation also detailed a troubling communication failure between federal and local authorities.
The radio room, used by Secret Service agents to deal with external threats, was unable to receive real-time alerts from local police stationed outside.
It was previously reported that about an hour before Trump took the stage, Crooks was seen by police using a rangefinder and looking at his phone.
According to the internal investigation, Secret Service agents did not hear local police over their radios saying they were trying to locate Crooks and were looking for him until after Trump began his speech.
Just 10 minutes before Trump began speaking, agents on the ground received a message that Crooks was a “threat.”
Rowe, the secret agency's acting director, acknowledged to The Washington Post that the agency should be held accountable for the security lapses exposed in the report.
He also said the agency has launched another review to enhance security for dozens of government officials protected by the Secret Service.
Rove briefed members of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on the report on Thursday, and lawmakers from both parties said they were “shocked” by security failures At a Trump rally.
“I think the American people will be shocked, appalled and stunned by what we will report to them about the failures of the Secret Service in the attempted assassination of a former president,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), who chairs the panel's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.
