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6 October 2024

New report details stunning Secret Service leadership failures around first Trump assassination attempt

Holmes Lybrand, Annie Grayer and Zachary Cohen

Secret Service agents failed to take charge of decision-making for security at the Butler, Pennsylvania, rally where former President Donald Trump was shot in July, a bipartisan Senate committee revealed in a new report Wednesday, leading to key lapses in preparation and communication that day.

The report, citing interviews with top Secret Service officials and local law enforcement who oversaw the security for the rally, said the failures were “foreseeable, preventable” and found that many of the problems identified by the committee “remain unaddressed” by the Secret Service.

Some of the problems highlighted include the Secret Service failing to set up visual barriers around the rally that may have blocked shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks’ view of Trump, the lack of a plan on how to secure the building the shooter took aim from and the general chaos of communication around the shooter’s movement leading up to the attempt on the former president’s life.

Homeland Security Committee Chairman Sen. Gary Peters told CNN Wednesday morning that his panel heard “a lot of finger-pointing” when they pressed Secret Service agents about who was in charge the day of the rally.

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