The recently released bipartisan report into the assassination attempt on Donald Trump details several damning failures of the United States’ Secret Service (USSS), from organizational miscommunications to technological difficulties experienced on-site.
The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee (HSGAC) report discusses the July 30 testimony of Ronald L. Rowe, Jr., Acting Director of the USSS, who informed the committee that the assassination attempt was a result of “a failure on multiple levels.”
The USSS testimony was regarding the assassination attempt on Donald Trump at a Pennsylvania rally on July 13 which left two people, including the 20 year-old shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks, dead, and the former President injured.
The HSGAC report details the multiple missteps taken by the USSS, as noted by Acting Director Rowe. It also details other testimonies given to the HSGAC and the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.
Donald Trump following the attempted assassination at his July 13 rally, and, Acting U.S. Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe Jr. testifying, inset. Rowe noted multiple missteps taken by the USSS at Butler, where the former… Donald Trump following the attempted assassination at his July 13 rally, and, Acting U.S. Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe Jr. testifying, inset. Rowe noted multiple missteps taken by the USSS at Butler, where the former president was shot.
Main image: Gene J. Puskar, Inset: Chip Somodevilla/Main image: Associated Press, Inset: Getty Images
Per the report, the committee found: “USSS failures in planning, communications, security, and allocation of resources for the July 13, 2024 Butler rally were foreseeable, preventable, and directly related to the events resulting in the assassination attempt that day.”
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The committee identified five key failures. They said the USSS:
Failed to clearly define responsibilities for planning and security at the July 13 rally.
Failed to ensure the AGR Building from which Crooks shot was effectively covered.
Failed to effectively coordinate with state and local law enforcement.
Failed to provide resources for the July 13 rally that could have enhanced security.
Failed to communicate information about the suspicious person to key personnel and to take action to ensure the safety of former President Trump.
The report then goes into its twelve detailed findings about what went wrong on the day of the attempted assassination. These range from interdepartmental miscommunications, a failure to communicate with other law enforcement agencies, and technological difficulties.
The report shows several communication failures within the USSS and between the USSS, local law enforcement, and the FBI.
Per the report the: “USSS personnel were notified of a suspicious person with a range finder around the AGR building approximately 27 minutes before the shooting.” However, USSS Lead Advance Agent, Site Agent, and Site Counterpart told the committee that this information was not relayed to them, and they did not know of the suspicious person on the roof.
They also claimed that local officers lost track of the individual before the shots were fired. They were then only informed of a shooter on the AGR Building roof that Crooks was on two minutes before shots were fired.
On top of that, despite seeing local law enforcement running toward the AGR Building, a USSS countersniper did not alert Donald Trump’s protective detail to remove him from the stage.
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The USSS and the FBI were also not on the same page regarding the threat posed by Crooks. Countersnipers from the USSS were at the rally due to “credible intelligence” of a threat at the event. However, the FBI said Crooks was not known to them.
Additionally, despite the Butler Emergency Services Unit telling the USSS that they did not have enough manpower to lock down the AGR Building, the USSS failed to take responsibility for the building as it was on the “outer perimeter,” and failed to send agents to cover the building.
To make communications matters worse, there were two communication centers at the event, one center run by the USSS and a separate center run by local law enforcement. They communicated with each other via cellphone, and were at least 120 yards apart.
The report states that the two camps also operated on separate radio channels, and where the local channels were recorded on July 13, USSS radio transmissions were not recorded.
There were also several technological failures at the event including the Counter-Unmanned Aerial System (C-UAS) which experienced technical problems to the point that the agent responsible for the C-UAS—who only had three months of experience working with the equipment—had to call a toll-free 888 tech support hotline “to start troubleshooting with the company.”
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And, as well as working on separate radio frequencies, at one point USSS agents reported technical difficulties with their radios. These agents were a USSS Hercules 1 counter sniper who was unable to pick up a local radio because he was too busy fixing his own radio, and the USSS Special Agent In Charge (SAIC) who had no radio after giving his to the Lead Advance Agent whose radio was not working.
The report also notes that within these failures was a lack of accountability across the USSS, and blame deflection across the chain of command.
Acting U.S. Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe Jr. testifying before a joint hearing of the Senate Judiciary and Homeland Security and Government Affairs committees on July 30, 2024 in Washington, D.C. Acting U.S. Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe Jr. testifying before a joint hearing of the Senate Judiciary and Homeland Security and Government Affairs committees on July 30, 2024 in Washington, D.C. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
When asked for comment, Anthony Guglielmi, U.S. Secret Service Chief of Communications told Newsweek: “We have reviewed the interim report on the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump. The weight of our mission is not lost on us and in this hyperdynamic threat environment, the U.S. Secret Service cannot fail.
“Many of the insights gained from the Senate report align with the findings from our mission assurance review and are essential to ensuring that what happened on July 13 never happens again.”
Guglielmi added: “Former President Donald Trump is receiving the highest level of protection that the U.S. Secret Service can provide, and we will continue to evaluate and adjust our specific protective measures and methodology based on each location and situation.”
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Guglielmi also said that the USSS is cooperating with Congress, the FBI, the DHS Independent Review, DHS Inspector General and the Government Accountability Office.
Additionally Guglielmi said the USSS is working transparently and in good faith with Congress, and has given them more than 3,300 pages of documents since July 13, and more than 50 hours of transcribed interviews.
He said: “The U.S. Secret Service has implemented changes to our protective operations including elevating the protective posture for our protectees and bolstering our protective details as appropriate in order to ensure the highest levels of safety and security for those we protect.”
Donald Trump has terminated the remaining members of the independent, federal commission that assists election administration officials nationwide just a few months before the midterm elections, multiple outlets reported Thursday.
The remaining three commissioners of the four-member bipartisan commission were forced out on Thursday in different ways. The one Republican appointee resigned and the other two, Democratic appointees were notified of their terminations via email from the White House presidential personnel office.
“On behalf of President Donald J Trump, I am writing to inform you that your position as Commissioner of the Election Assistance Commission is terminated, effective immediately. Thank you for your service,” the email, seen by Reuters, said.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Election Assistance Commission serves as a “national clearinghouse of information on election administration”, accredits testing laboratories and certifies voting systems, and maintains the national mail-voter registration form developed by the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, according to the commission’s website. The terminations follow Trump and top administration officials’ advocacy to change vote-by-mail requirements and investigations into the 2020 election outcome, which Trump lost to Democrat Joe Biden.
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“It is irresponsible and dangerous that this Administration remains dead set on causing chaos for our election officials across this country,” Arizona secretary of state Adrian Fontes said in a Thursday statement. “This move undermines the integrity of nonpartisan election administration.”
The 2002 law that established the commission, the Help America Vote Act, states the president can appoint replacements to the commission.
It is unclear how Trump will move ahead with the commission.
Former U.S. Olympian David Hearn (left) walks with his attorney Norman Eisen to speak to reporters and protesters gathered after his arraignment at the Superior Court of the District of Columbia in Washington, D.C. on Thursday.
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Former U.S. Olympic canoeist David Hearn pleaded not guilty to damaging the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in D.C. Superior Court Thursday morning.
Federal prosecutors charged Hearn with a single count of destruction of property causing more than $1,000 in damage to the pool.
Hearn has previously claimed, which his attorneys repeated during a short press conference outside the court, that he simply touched the water in the pool out of curiosity.
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The Trump administration had just completed a $14 million renovation of the pool.
But shortly after the work finished, peeling paint and algae gathered in the water. The remodel has been largely criticized as a massive failure and waste of taxpayer dollars.
Superior Court Judge Carmen McLean released Hearn on his own recognizance. His next hearing is scheduled for Aug. 5.
Norm Eisen, one of Hearn’s attorneys, spoke to reporters outside of court following the hearing. He said the administration is using Hearn as a “scapegoat … for their own failures.”
“It is not a crime to touch the reflecting pool, to touch water in the United States of America,” he said.
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Prosecutors say there is a host of evidence against Hearn.
Three more people have been criminally charged with destruction of property at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
Officers say they detained Cameron Thiers, Sophie Dennison-Gibby and Justin Carreno one Saturday afternoon in June and described in court documents witnessing them peeling and removing pieces of blue paint from the Reflecting Pool.
One officer “witnessed Carreno reach down into the reflecting pool and pull up a piece of the blue paint,” according to the court documents.
The officer who detained Dennison-Gibby “found 1 additional piece of the reflecting pool liner” in her purse, the documents said.
All three incidents were recorded on the officers’ body worn cameras, they said in the court documents.
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Several “partnering law enforcement agencies assigned to the Reflecting Pool” working with US Park Police were involved in detaining the two men and one woman — including officers from Texas, Oklahoma, Montana and California.
One of the officers said in court documents that Thiers “admitted to removing a piece of blue sealant from the Reflecting Pool and still had it in his hand when I made contact with him.”
The three defendants were arraigned in court Wednesday and pleaded not guilty to the misdemeanor charges of destruction of property with a value less than $1,000. The judge ordered them to stay away from the Reflecting Pool.
Lawyers for Thiers and Dennison-Gibby declined to comment. CNN has reached out to Carreno’s attorney.
If found guilty of destruction of property, the defendants could be fined up to $1,000 and face a maximum of 180 days behind bars.
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The New York Times first reported that three additional people had been charged with damaging the Reflecting Pool.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed that vandals caused major damage to the pool by gashing the lining after his administration spent more than $14 million on renovations, though he has not provided evidence to support that claim. The officers who charged Carreno, Thiers and Dennison-Gibby did not accuse them of gashing the lining.
Former Olympic canoeist David Hearn was indicted by a grand jury in Washington, DC, last week for allegedly damaging the Reflecting Pool. Hearn — unlike Carreno, Thiers and Dennison-Gibby – was charged with destruction of property with a value of more than $1,000 which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, if convicted. He is set to be arraigned in court Thursday.
Crews began draining the Reflecting Pool over the weekend to make repairs, according to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, for the second time in three months.
The move comes after weeks of problems – algae blooms, green-hued water, a chipping bottom and the administration’s allegations of vandalism – that have plagued the iconic landmark, making its woes the subject of national interest.
