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Thomas Mathew Crooks update—damning Secret Service details in Senate report
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.
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.”
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.
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.”
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.
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.”
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.”
Three San Francisco couples set out Monday for their annual road trip to Ashland, Ore., for the town’s famous Shakespeare festival. They drove separately and planned to meet at 6:30 p.m. on the terrace of their favorite Japanese restaurant there.
They had booked a table for six, but only four showed up for dinner.
Judith and Wylie Sheldon were found dead in their running car on the side of the road to Oregon, shocking their friends and family and leaving a hole in San Francisco’s arts and film world.
Ms. Sheldon, 84, was the daughter of William Wyler — who won three Oscars for best director — and chaired the board of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival. Mr. Sheldon, 86, was a prominent lawyer.
David Smith, who had befriended the couple more than 40 years ago, said in an interview that he and the others at the dinner table had grown nervous as time ticked on and their friends did not answer repeated calls to their cellphones. They learned they had not checked into their hotel either.
The friends eventually learned from one of the couple’s sons that the California Highway Patrol had found the couple at 5:46 p.m., both dead inside their running Jeep Compass. It was parked on the side of Interstate 5, north of Redding, Calif., more than 100 miles from their destination, the authorities said. Ms. Sheldon was driving, while Mr. Sheldon was in the passenger seat, according to the authorities.
The Redding area on Monday was under an extreme heat warning issued by the National Weather Service. Temperatures reached 109 degrees, according to the Weather Service.
Mr. Smith said he learned from the son that the couple had been found without any water or other liquids in the car. The fan was on high, but the air conditioning was not working, meaning they might have been blasted with hot air, Mr. Smith said. The windows were rolled down. The car had plenty of gas, and there were no signs of mechanical failure or foul play, Mr. Smith said the son told him.
“They didn’t crash. They stopped. They both just died there,” Mr. Smith said. “The entire thing is so bizarre. We’re still in a state of shock.”
The circumstances and cause of the couple’s death is under investigation but “appears to be medically related,” the Highway Patrol said in a statement.
Whether the heat contributed to the couple’s death “may be determined” by an autopsy, a spokesman for the Shasta County Sheriff’s Office said, adding that one had not been scheduled yet and could take several weeks to complete.
“We’ll just have to see,” the spokesman, Tim Mapes, said.
The Sheldons met at Stanford University and had two sons. They lived in a large home in San Francisco’s upscale Pacific Heights neighborhood that had views of the bay from the front and a garden out back.
They hosted many parties there on behalf of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival and sometimes let revelers pose for photos with Mr. Wyler’s Oscar statuettes. Ms. Sheldon fell in love with silent movies after first seeing those created by her father — before his better known blockbusters like “Ben-Hur” and “Roman Holiday” — only about 30 years ago, said Anita Monga, artistic director of the festival.
Stacey Wisnia, the festival’s executive director, said the couple was generous, delightful and unassuming.
Back in Ashland, Ore., Mr. Smith said the four remaining friends had distracted themselves from their grief by attending plays, including “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and “Come From Away.” They were able to give away their friends’ tickets.
Ms. Monga had last seen Ms. Sheldon just last month at the film festival, which was held at the newly remade Castro Theater.
“This is such a shock,” Ms. Monga said of the deaths. “Also because it’s still a mystery.”
Luigi Mangione appears for a pretrial hearing at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York, June 17, 2026.
Angelina Katsanis/AP
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Angelina Katsanis/AP
New York — In a dramatic reversal, Luigi Mangione’s legal team on Thursday backed away from a plan to use a psychiatric defense when his case goes to trial in state court in September. Mangione has pleaded not guilty to murdering health insurance CEO Brian Thompson in 2024 on a Manhattan street.
At a hearing only a day earlier before state Judge Gregory Carro, Mangione’s attorneys confirmed that Mangione had been undergoing psychiatric evaluation. They signaled that his defense would be based at least in part on the argument that Mangione was experiencing “extreme emotional disturbance.”
But in a one-line letter sent to Carro on Thursday, Mangione’s team said that “at this time” they no longer intend to introduce psychiatric evidence during the trial. It’s unclear what sparked the shift. Mangione’s team didn’t respond to NPR’s request for comment.
Former Manhattan prosecutor and legal analyst Gary Galperin told NPR it was a “stunning reversal” for Mangione to withdraw from the psychiatric defense. “One can only speculate at this point as to the reasons,” he said.
“What remains, of course, at this point is the question of what defense they will pursue at trial,” he added.
This maneuver came after Carro ordered Mangione’s attorneys to quickly share psychiatric information with prosecutors.
“They need to know what the malady is that this defendant suffers and how that triggered extreme emotional distress,” he said, during Wednesday’s hearing. “I’m not going to let you surprise people on the eve of trial. Get it done.”
Assistant Manhattan District Attorney Joel Seidemann repeatedly complained that Mangione’s team was “stonewalling” the prosecution by withholding medical information about his psychiatric state. “We have gotten nothing,” Seidemann said.
Mangione’s lead attorney Karen Friedman Agnifilo denied her team was delaying the court process or improperly withholding information.
But legal analyst Richard Schoenstein says by withdrawing the psychiatric defense, Mangione’s team “is avoiding the court deadline to produce its psychiatric evidence.”
According to Schoenstein, this latest move “does not entirely foreclose” Mangione’s team from returning to some form of psychiatric argument during the trial, but he added that such a defense would now be far more difficult.
Mangione’s case has drawn worldwide attention. Legal experts say the 28-eight-year old has drawn an unusual level of public support because of his criticism of the health insurance industry. Thompson, a father of two, was CEO of UnitedHealthcare at the time of his murder.
During Wednesday’s hearing, Carro also indicated that a tranche of court documents would be made public that apparently relate to Mangione’s potential psychiatric defense. On Thursday, Carro reversed course.
In a signed order, he said that because Mangione will no longer present psychiatric evidence, “the court’s previous order sealing certain transcripts, emails, and documents, remains in effect.”
Mangione’s state trial is scheduled to begin in early September, with a federal trial expected to take place later.
The museums, designed by conservative nonprofits and Trump appointees, tell the story of early America, from colonization to revolution. The one exhibition looking beyond the early years is the “Wall of American Heroes.” It is a list of 51 people, chosen to illustrate 250 years of American history.
A White House spokesman said they were “individuals who shaped this nation’s history, culture and spirit across generations.”
The people pictured on this national honor roll — and the people left out — help illustrate what this administration sees as the highlights of American history.
Amid the administration’s efforts to reshape the nation’s relationship with its past, Trump appointees heavily weighted the list toward a single era of American history — and a few specific kinds of hero.
The other exhibitions in the Freedom Trucks were crafted by a pair of conservative nonprofits, PragerU and Hillsdale College. But the “Wall of American Heroes” was created by Freedom 250, a nonprofit effort whose leaders were chosen by President Trump and that was created to lead the planning of celebrations of the nation’s 250th birthday, overshadowing a bipartisan congressional commission.
A spokeswoman for Freedom 250 said Mr. Trump was not directly involved in the selection of those featured.
But the list clearly tracks Mr. Trump’s own lifetime and the heroes of the conservative political movement.
The wall’s tilt toward heroes of the baby boomer generation, for instance, extends beyond Hollywood stars and musicians. Of the four religious leaders on the list, two — Archbishop Fulton Sheen and the Rev. Billy Graham — also appeared on TV regularly in the 1950s and 1960s. The only painter on the list is Norman Rockwell, known for his idealized depictions of American life in that period.
By contrast, there is only a handful of figures from the first decades of American independence.
“That’s a disservice, if your intention is to present the last 250 years,” said Sarah Weicksel, the executive director of the American Historical Association. “Because all of the people on this list are building on the work and struggles and progress that was made by the people in the 150 years prior.”
The “Wall of American Heroes” was inspired by a similar display in a traveling museum created by the State of Virginia. But Virginia’s display celebrates little-known historical figures.
Mr. Trump’s, by and large, celebrates people who are already well-known — and, often, people who were famous in their own time. For example, it praises P.T. Barnum, a circus impresario who used hoaxes and freak shows to draw crowds. The wall calls him an “icon of American sensationalism.”
The spokeswoman for Freedom 250 said that many of the names on the wall were drawn from a list of 250 people that Mr. Trump wants to include in a “Garden of American Heroes” in Washington.
The spokeswoman declined to say what criteria were used to narrow down the list.
The only president whose name appears on the wall — not on the list of heroes, but alongside his quotation — is Mr. Trump himself.
Explore the Wall of Heroes
Navigate the display by dragging from side to side.
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