Watchdog puts blame on U.S. Secret Service for missing crucial radio calls during 2024 Trump shooting
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The U.S. Secret Service did not receive more than 100 local radio transmissions about the gunman who attempted to assassinate President Donald Trump at a 2024 campaign rally in Butler, Pa., according to a government watchdog report released on Thursday.
The agency was unaware of the 102 transmissions on July 13, 2024, because it had failed to establish a joint communications room with local law enforcement, according to the report by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general. Local authorities were receiving reports about the search for a suspicious person who was later identified as Thomas Crooks.
“Instead, we found that the Secret Service received only five phone calls and three text messages about Crooks,” the report said.
“As a result, Secret Service members did not alert President Trump’s protective detail about concerns of a suspicious person.”
Crooks, who was shot and killed by law enforcement at the rally, opened fire while Trump was speaking on stage. A bystander was killed and several others were injured, including Trump, when a bullet grazed his ear.
Crooks had gained access to a nearby rooftop with a direct line of sight to Trump.
The Secret Service did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
How was a gunman able to come so close to assassinating former U.S. president Donald Trump during a campaign rally in Butler, Pa.? Andrew Chang breaks down a new report published by a bipartisan U.S. Senate committee that found the Secret Service’s lack of organization and technical planning failed to keep Trump safe.
The report found that Crooks flew a drone over the area hours before carrying out the shooting. The flight went undetected because the Secret Service’s counter-drone system was inoperable, it said.
The counter-drone system was staffed by a single “under-trained” operator who did not test it before the event, according to the inspector general.
It took the operator hours to fix the problem, the report said. During that time, Crooks conducted a drone flight lasting nearly nine minutes without being detected.
Thursday’s report was the latest in a series of investigations by government watchdogs and congressional panels that identified major shortcomings in the Secret Service’s security arrangements for the event.
Congressional Republicans accused Secret Service director Kimberly Cheatle of incompetence and urged her to resign during a House Oversight Committee into the stunning security lapses ahead of the assassination attempt on Donald Trump.
