The local police team responsible for the roof a shooter used to fire at ex-President Donald Trump on July 13 in Butler, Pennsylvania, had never spoken to the Secret Service prior to the attempted assassination, a report released by the Secret Service on Friday says.
The “initial mission assurance report” compiled by the Secret Service’s own internal investigators found that bad planning and poor communication between agencies caused the security lapse that allowed Thomas Crooks to fire on Trump, killing a member of the crowd, critically injuring two others and wounding Trump.
Among other errors, the report found that one local police entity working security at the Trump rally requested support from another local department without the Secret Service being aware.
That second local department ultimately became responsible for securing the roof of the AGR building, where Crooks took position. The local departments were not named in the report.
“This led to a situation where the local tactical team operating on the second floor of the AGR building—a team that was providing mutual aid support — had no prior contact with Secret Service personnel before the rally,” the report said. “There was also no discussion with Secret Service advance personnel about positioning that team atop the AGR roof.”
The report also said that the Secret Service’s counter sniper asset team, which would ultimately be responsible for taking down any shooter in the area, arrived in Butler after previous law enforcement organizations had already met and made security plans.
“It’s important that we hold ourselves to account for the failures of July 13 and that we use the lessons learned to make sure that we do not have another mission failure like this again,” acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe said at a news conference unveiling the report Friday.
While investigating the incident, the Secret Service placed some officials, including the director of the Secret Service’s Pittsburgh Field Office, on leave.
Friday’s report said “recommendations to leadership” may be coming at another time.
Rowe spoke shortly after the House of Representatives voted unanimously to approve a bill that would ensure presidential candidates get the same level of security as sitting presidents.
“The former president is getting everything that the current president has with respect to Secret Service assets,” Rowe said.
The report also blamed a “high operational tempo” for the security breach on July 13, suggesting the agency may have been stretched too thin between increasing security for Vice President Kamala Harris, staffing the Republican National Convention and preparing for the Democratic National Convention.
“This summer, we experienced an unprecedented tempo,” Rowe said. “This high operational tempo continues as the U.S. Secret Service prepares for the United Nations General Assembly next week.”
He also praised the agent who recently fired at a potential assassin on the golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida, where Trump was playing golf Sunday. Rowe said the agent is relatively early in his career and acted exactly in accordance with his training.
Rowe also told reporters at a news conference Friday that the Secret Service did not deny security assets to the Trump campaign ahead of the July rally in Butler.
