Congressional committee uncovers Secret Service failures in Trump shooting

A congressional committee led by US Sen. Gary Peters, D-Michigan, released a report Wednesday looking into Secret Service failures in an assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump At a rally in Pennsylvania this summer, concluding personnel knew about a suspicious person in the area nearly a half-hour before he shot at Trump.

The report also noted that even though a counter-sniper team leader “saw local law enforcement running toward” a building where the person was believed to be with their guns drawn, he or she did not radio Trump’s security detail to have the former president removed from the stage before the shooting. Counter-snipers were sent to the event in part because of what was called “credible intelligence” of a possible threat, the report said, and security concerns had also been raised by local law enforcement beforehand.

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, which Peters chairs, said in its interim report that Secret Service failures in “planning, communications, security and allocation of resources” for the July 13 rally in Butler, Pa., where 20-year- old Thomas Matthew Crooks shot at Trump with an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle, grazing his ear, and also killed a rally-goer and injured two others before being shot and killed by a counter-sniper was “foreseeable, preventable, and directly related to “The events resulting in the assassination attempt that day.”

The report said Crooks was able to fly a drone near the site, use a rangefinder to gauge the distance he would be from Trump and bring two explosive devices within the rally’s proximity earlier in the day. He then climbed onto the roof of a building outside the security perimeter but less than 200 yards from where the former president was speaking even though Secret Service had been informed about a suspicious person in the vicinity well before he did so.

“The United States Secret Service’s planning, communications, intelligence sharing and related security failures in advance of and during July 13 directly contributed to Crooks’ ability to carry out the assassination attempt and kill and injure people in Butler, Pa. that day,” the report said.

Trump escaped serious injury in the assassination attempt, the first of two against the former president and Republican candidate during this year’s campaign. A second attempt against him while he was playing golf in Florida this month was foiled when agents spotted a firearm and fired at a suspectwho law enforcement later took into custody.

The committee report outlined what it called several key failures in the July 13 shooting, including saying that Secret Service personnel failed to clearly define who was responsible for planning and security and later attempted to deflect blame and that no specific individual was made responsible for approving security measures

It also noted the Secret Service failed to make sure the building Crooks fired from was secured, even though it had been already identified as a concern before the rally, and that personnel failed to effectively coordinate with state and local law enforcement who were also at the scene Meanwhile, Secret Service also denied specific requests for additional measures such as a second system to detect and disable a drone such as that Crooks used earlier when the one on site was temporarily inoperable.

The decision to send a counter-sniper team to the rally − the first time it had been done for someone other than a president, vice president or a candidate who had not yet been formally nominated − was made in part in response to what was characterized as “credible intelligence” of a threat by Secret Service personnel, though agents in Pennsylvania were unaware of that. The FBI said later that Crooks was unknown to them prior to the assassination attempt.

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Cell phone data collected by Pennsylvania State Police indicated that Crooks − who the FBI said had investigated other targets including President Joe Biden and both major parties’ nominating conventions − initially visited the Butler Farm Show grounds between 10:59 am and 11:50 am, returning later with a firearm and ammunition. Two explosive devices were also found in his vehicle, according to law enforcement.

At about 3:51 pm, he flew a drone about 200 yards from the Farm Show grounds for about 11 minutes and was able to view the footage live, the report said.

According to a timeline compiled by committee staff, a sniper from local law enforcement who was ending a shift reported seeing a suspicious person sitting near the building at 4:26 pm the day of the shooting and told two other local snipers, though the FBI said Crooks was half a mile away at that time. At 5:10 pm, however, another sniper at the building reported seeing an individual walk by who was later determined to be Crooks and took a photo of him. The sniper, at 5:32 pm, said the person was looking through a rangefinder; the sniper then began informing others, though then they lost sight of Crooks, the report said.

It went on to say that Secret Service personnel were first informed of a suspicious person, “specifically, ‘a young white male, long hair, with a rangefinder,'” as well as the appearance of a bike and a large backpack near the building At 5:44 pm, some 27 minutes before the shooting and about 16 minutes before Trump took the stage at the rally. Counter-snipers positioned on roofs around the outdoor rally and elsewhere were then also informed and local and state police were sent to try to locate the person.

By 5:52 pm, at least eight Secret Service personnel had been told to be on the lookout.

Shortly after Trump took the stage at 6 pm, the timeline said, Crooks was seen again and local law enforcement was sent to look for him, but he was still able to climb onto the building’s roof by stepping first on an air conditioning unit. At 6:08 pm, a local police officer radioed that someone was seen on the roof next to a neighboring pine tree; At 6:11 pm, a local police officer was lifted up to the roof but jumped down when he saw Crooks 5 or 6 feet away with his gun pointed at him. By that time, Secret Service counter-snipers had tried to put themselves in position to see Crooks.

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Within seconds, the report said, “Crooks fired an initial volley of three shots, one of which struck former President Trump in the ear,” with Trump’s security detail rushing the stage to shield him. “Crooks fired an additional five shots over the next several seconds, for a total of eight shots,” Local law enforcement and counter-snipers fired back, with a sniper’s shot killing Crooks.

The committee made several recommendations in the report, including improving communication and coordination, identifying defined roles and responsibilities for Secret Service personnel and designing a person responsible for approving all security plans, including those involving the security perimeter.

It also called for Congress to require the Secret Service to record radio transmissions at events protective and to report on steps taken to fix past failures and ensure they don’t occur in the future.

Trump is expected to return to Butler for a rally, with some media outlets saying he could be there Oct. 5one month to the day before the Nov. 5 general elections.

Contact Todd Spangler: [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter@tsspangler.