(ReclaimingAmerica.net) – A scathing bipartisan Senate report has slammed the Secret Service for several failures during the event where GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump was nearly assassinated two months ago.
The Senate Homeland Security and Governance Committee and its permanent Subcommittee on Investigations recently issued an extensive interim report.
It detailed several security lapses by the Secret Service at a Trump campaign rally on July 13 in Butler, Pennsylvania.
The report highlights poor communication with local law enforcement, lack of staff and tech glitches.
At the rally, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks fired eight shots at Trump and his supporters from the roof of the American Glass Research building.
Crooks had earlier scoped out his shooting distance with a range finder and surveyed the area with a drone.
One major flaw was that the Secret Service and local police operated from separate communication centers, using different radio channels without recording their communications.
Although the Secret Service discovered a suspicious individual with a range finder near the building at 5:44 p.m., this crucial information did not reach key personnel before Crooks opened fire at 6:11 p.m.
Just minutes before Crooks began shooting, a Secret Service counter-sniper noticed local police rushing towards the building but failed to inform Trump’s security team.
The counter-sniper who ultimately shot and killed Crooks had only seconds to react and did not require permission to fire.
Before the event, a local emergency services member warned the Secret Service that local police did not have enough officers to monitor the building effectively.
However, the Secret Service assumed it was the local law enforcement’s responsibility to secure the building since it was outside the immediate rally perimeter and did not assign its own agents to the location.
Furthermore, the Secret Service did not give specific instructions to local law enforcement nor fully review their operational plans.
Despite identifying potential threats at the site, the Secret Service did not deploy large trucks or heavy equipment for additional protection, even though it was recommended.
Trump’s security team had also requested more resources for the rally but were denied.
During the attack, Crooks shot Trump in the right ear, killed a former fire chief in the crowd and wounded two others.
The Senate report is grounded in 2,800 pages of Secret Service documents and interviews with various law enforcement personnel.
This incident remains one of the most significant law enforcement failures in U.S. history and is still under active investigation by Congress and the FBI.
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