Trump assassination attempt: Secret Service failures may warrant discipline, agency report says

The U.S. Secret Service on Friday published a summary of the agency’s independent investigation into the July 13 assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump, which concluded that certain agents’ actions and behaviors may warrant disciplinary action.

The agency’s investigation, called a Mission Assurance Inquiry, “identified several instances of behaviors and acts by multiple employees that warrant review for corrective counseling and, potentially, disciplinary action,” the USSS synopsis says. 

“All Secret Service employees are held to a high standard of conduct in the performance of their duties when providing protection to those that entrust us with their well-being and the safety of their families,” the document states.

In particular, the internal review, which will be shared with Congress, found communications deficiencies, an unclear understanding of duties among some personnel working for USSS, and certain planning failures leading up to and during Trump’s campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, where gunman Thomas Crooks shot Trump, the bullet skimming the former president’s ear. 

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Crooks, 20, killed rally attendee Corey Comperatore and critically wounded two other attendees, David Dutch and James Copenhaver, in his attempt to kill Trump.

The report acknowledged that some of the Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) personnel tapped with assisting USSS in its security procedures that day “conveyed the belief that they were inadequately prepared due to insufficient instruction,” while others did feel prepared.

“July 13, 2024, was a failure for the Secret Service.”

— Mission Assurance Inquiry

USSS also found that the agency “did not have adequate command and control over the radio communications for the rally.”

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Certain agents failed to “adequately relay” critical information through the radio and “instead relayed critical pieces of information conveyed by law enforcement partners via telephone and text message to some, but not all, Secret Service personnel at the site.”

Additionally, certain agents failed to “command the appropriate dispatch of personnel” to the area of the American Glass Research (AGR) building, where Crooks positioned himself on the roof and fired eight rounds, “after learning about a suspicious individual with a range finder” approximately one hour before shots rang out.

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Two state and local law enforcement agencies with prior experience working with USSS determined that Secret Service “planning for the Butler rally lacked detail, cohesion, and clear understanding of who was in charge, all of which contributed to the overall lack of coordination.”

The agency also noted in its report that the rally attracted a large crowd of about 15,000 attendees in 90-degree weather, contributing to a reported 251 requests for medical assistance that day at the rally.

USSS also pointed to a “lack of coordination” with Trump campaign staff that “caused a higher-than-expected proportion of security personnel to be diverted into assisting with medical responses.”

The investigation summary concluded that the July 13 rally was a “failure for the Secret Service” that warranted “several operational, policy, and organizational changes, some because of the findings and recommendations of the Mission Assurance Inquiry, and others done proactively in the wake of the July 13 incident.”

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The changes include: providing the “highest level” of USSS protection to Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris that is comparable “to the level of the president”; increased staffing of agents assigned to Trump’s detail; expanded use of unmanned aerial systems and counter unmanned aerial systems; radio fixes, including deployed personnel assisting with the development of radio networks; agreements with federal partners to secure more law enforcement “personnel and assets”; expanded USSS tactical coverage; expanded use of ballistic countermeasures at Secret Service-protected campaign sites; expanded use of technical countermeasures to enhance Trump’s security; and “organizational changes to better align enabling technologies … to give the Secret Service a technical advantage over its adversaries.”

“The Secret Service will continue to make further changes and implement viable recommendations that it receives from various entities. The agency is devoted to the mission entrusted to us and will work vigilantly to restore the trust bestowed upon us by the people we protect, the Congress, and the American people,” the Mission Assurance Inquiry report concluded.

Congress and other oversight committees continue to investigate the July 13 assassination attempt.