Mistakes by the US Secret Service nearly got former president Donald Trump killed at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, Congress has said
A US Congress task force blamed the Secret Service for gaps in command and communication
The US Congress task force investigating the July 13 attempt on the life of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has confirmed that the Secret Service and local law enforcement did not coordinate properly.
Trump was speaking at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania when a bullet nicked his ear. One rally-goer was killed and two more seriously injured before the Secret Service neutralized the attacker on the roof of a nearby factory.
“Put simply, the evidence obtained by the Task Force to date shows the tragic and shocking events of July 13 were preventable and should not have happened,” said the preliminary report published by the bipartisan body on Monday.
The 53-page document contained eight main findings, starting with the lack of planning and coordination between the Secret Service and local law enforcement.
The factory roof from which Thomas Crooks opened fire was not included in the security perimeter, despite having “clear sight lines to the stage, and elevated position,” the report said. Local officers posted inside the building did not secure the complex or the roof, believing their job was just “overwatch” of the rally site.
The Secret Service and local police had separate command posts and did not have a shared radio channel, the report said. This created gaps in communication which Crooks was able to slip through.
A member of Congress with a law enforcement background who investigated the site in early August suggested that the FBI investigators may have destroyed evidence in the case by scrubbing the roof and allowing Crooks’ body to be cremated before the autopsy results were made available.
The Butler County Coroner’s office released the remains to Crooks’ family after the FBI said no additional evidence was necessary, the new report said.
According to the autopsy, Crooks died of a single gunshot wound to the head, presumably inflicted by a Secret Service counter-sniper. He managed to fire eight shots prior to that, however, and may have stopped only after a local police officer shot at him. The coroner did not find evidence of alcohol or drugs in Crooks’ blood, but did find traces of antimony, selenium, and lead.
The new report also clarifies that Crooks did not use a ladder to get to the top of the building, but climbed using the outside air conditioning unit. The ladder seen in the photos after the incident was placed there by local police afterward to let investigators access the roof.
Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned ten days after the Butler shooting.
The House of Representatives task force consists of both Republicans and Democrats and has been charged with investigating both the Butler incident and the thwarted ambush at Trump’s Florida golf course in September. Their final report is due December 13, well after the presidential election.
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