The leader of the Secret Service stated on Friday that the agency did not adequately prepare or carry out its responsibilities ahead of the near-assassination of former President Donald Trump during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania on July 13, promising that those accountable would be “held accountable.”
“This was a failure on the part of the US Secret Service,” acting director Ronald Rowe informed reporters after an internal review of the day’s incidents was released.
Rowe noted that the agency is primarily tasked with “the main responsibility of building the site plan” for events involving former presidents or other protectees, but failed to provide “clear guidance or direction to our local law enforcement partners” for the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
He added that there was “complacency” among some Secret Service agents involved in the security setup at the Butler Farm Show grounds, coupled with a breakdown in communication due to messages being “siloed” between federal and local teams.
Agents were only made aware of the shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, being on the roof of the AGR building next to the rally site moments before he opened fire, having mistakenly assumed that local officers were monitoring that area.
The responsibility for the roof fell to federal agents on the scene that day, but no Secret Service official had instructed local law enforcement to cover it, as indicated by the five-page review first obtained by the Washington Post.
“It was about not giving state and locals clearer direction about what needed to be done at the AGR building,” Rowe remarked on Friday.
The report elaborated that “the local tactical team operating on the second floor of the AGR building,” which included a window directly behind the roof that Crooks utilized for his sniper position, “had no prior contact with Secret Service personnel before the rally.”
“Multiple law enforcement entities involved in securing the rally questioned the efficacy of that local sniper team’s positioning in the AGR building, yet there was no follow-up discussion about modifying their position,” the report states. “There was also no discussion with Secret Service advance personnel about positioning that team atop the AGR roof. Local sniper support were apparently not opposed to that location.”
Rather than consolidating all security personnel into a single command room, Butler County Emergency Services and the Secret Service operated from separate locations, and an “overreliance on mobile devices” resulted in federal counter-snipers being the last to learn about Crooks before he posed a threat.
“Some local police entities supporting the Butler venue had no knowledge that there were two separate communications centers on site (i.e., the Secret Service security room and the Butler County Emergency Services Mobile Command Post),” the report explains. “As a result, those entities were operating under a misimpression that the Secret Service was directly receiving their radio transmissions.”
Rowe also pointed out that “issues were [also] encountered the day of the visit with respect to line of sight concerns, but they were not escalated to supervisors.”
Additionally, a member of Trump’s security team attempted to operate a drone over the rally site prior to the event but encountered “technical difficulties.”
“It is possible that if this element of the advance had functioned properly, the shooter may have been detected as he flew his drone near the Butler Farm Show venue earlier in the day,” the report noted.
Since Trump’s near-assassination, the threat landscape has become “tremendous,” according to Rowe, prompting the agency to “significantly increase our security footprint” through the installation of more bulletproof glass and other technologies for protectees.
On Sunday, another would-be assassin, 58-year-old Ryan Wesley Routh, waited along the perimeter of the Trump International Golf Club West Palm Beach in Florida for nearly 12 hours in anticipation of the former president’s arrival.
Routh never fired a shot, having been spotted by a Secret Service agent who was conducting a sweep ahead of Trump on the course, who then immediately engaged the gunman.
“The advance agent, who was part of the first element, whose goal was to sweep ahead, did his job,” Rowe commented. “That young man is a very young agent early in his career. His vigilance, his reaction is exactly how we trained and exactly what we want our personnel to do.”
“There were counter-sniper elements that were present with the former president on the golf course in proximity; there was an entire counter-assault team that was there in proximity; there was also a jump team in proximity,” Rowe added.
Routh was subsequently arrested and charged with two federal weapons offenses.
When asked multiple times whether the 45th president was receiving the same level of security coverage as President Biden or Vice President Kamala Harris, Rowe affirmed that the “highest levels” of the sitting president’s detail were also “being provided to the former president’s detail.”
However, Rowe clarified that this assurance applied only to the Secret Service, while U.S. presidents have additional security provided by the Department of Defense in conjunction with federal and local law enforcement.
Despite claiming that his agency required “additional resources” to sustain security levels for all protectees, Rowe stated that all “assets were approved” prior to the Butler rally.
He also dismissed the necessity of a bill that passed the House earlier on Friday, which would require the agency to offer equivalent security to presidents, vice presidents, and major candidates for these positions.
Rowe mentioned that vice presidential candidates JD Vance and Tim Walz had both been granted “high levels of Secret Service protection.”
The near-assassination incident in Butler is currently under investigation by Senate and House committees, the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, and its Office of Inspector General.
{Matzav.com}