Several senior Secret Service agents are resigning just before the public release of an internal investigation into the security failures surrounding the July 13 assassination attempt on Donald Trump in Butler, PA. According to anonymous sources who spoke to The Washington Post, the report reveals that Secret Service agents failed to instruct local police to secure the rooftop where the gunman positioned himself.
Mike Plati, Assistant Director of the Office of Protective Operations, retired on Friday, according to a Secret Service statement. John Buckley, a senior executive in charge of public event security resources, is also expected to retire soon, as per an internal Secret Service email. A senior agent from the Pittsburgh field office, who was involved in crafting the security plan, has also indicated plans to retire, according to a source familiar with the investigation.
Kimberly Cheatle, the Secret Service director, resigned shortly after the shooting amid bipartisan pressure. She faced criticism for delaying details about the investigation and waiting for a 60-day review to finish before sharing more information.
Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) previewed the findings, stating, “I think the American people are going to be shocked, astonished, and appalled by what we will report to them about the failures by the Secret Service in this assassination attempt on the former president.”
One of the most significant revelations from the report is that the Secret Service’s radio room, where agents monitor threats, had no real-time communication with local police surveilling the crowd. Local police had even flagged a suspicious man at the rally before Trump’s arrival, but this information was not widely shared on Secret Service radio channels. Instead, a photo of the man, who was carrying a rangefinder near the Agr International building, was texted to just one agent. The man later turned out to be the gunman.
The report also indicates that Secret Service agents failed to hear local police radio traffic tracking the suspect once Trump began his speech.
According to The Washington Post, the agency is now under pressure to improve its protective measures. “In response to questions about the report, Rowe said in a statement that the report found numerous errors for which the agency must be held accountable and that he has begun an agency-wide review to harden the protective bubble around the more than 40 government officials and family members the Secret Service protects,” the outlet reported.
Rowe also highlighted the financial strain of such measures, stating, “The Secret Service cannot operate under the paradox of ‘zero fail mission’ while also making our special agents and uniformed division officers execute a very critical national security mission by doing more with less.”
The Post also detailed that security officials had considered using cranes, trucks, and flags to block the view from the Agr International building, but on the day of the rally, those visual impediments were not set up as planned. As a result, gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks was able to climb the building, open fire on Trump—wounding him in the ear—critically injuring two others, and killing one spectator before being shot by a Secret Service sniper.
