OAN Staff Blake Wolf
11:47 AM – Thursday, September 26, 2024
A new Senate report has revealed that the U.S. Secret Service agent in charge of former President Donald Trump’s July 13th Butler, Pennsylvania, rally was aware of “credible intelligence” regarding a dire security threat, yet did not pass the information on to event planners or her supervisor.
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The Wednesday report, released by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, found that the Secret Service’s lead agent in charge of the Trump rally had stated in a security planning document that there was “no adverse intelligence” regarding Trump’s Butler rally, despite her own “prior knowledge of an unspecified threat.”
Additionally, the advance agent in question reportedly told Senate investigators that she had notified the special agent in charge (SAIC) of the Secret Service’s Pittsburgh field office regarding the “credible intelligence” prior to the rally. However, after contacting Pittsburgh’s SAIC and speaking to him directly, he disputed her claims and informed Senate officials that he was not informed and had no knowledge of this.
The Pittsburgh SAIC then told investigators that if he had known about the threat, the rally would have been most likely moved to an indoor location in order to mitigate the potential risk.
The 94-page report also cited the security failures, which included: a lack of chain of command, poor coordination between state and local law enforcement, insufficient equipment and resources, and a failure to effectively secure the site of the rally.
Gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, came within millimeters of killing the former president on live television. Crooks had climbed on top of a nearby building and, soon after, fired eight gunshots from his AK-47 style firearm in Trump’s direction. Nonetheless, the gunman only hit Trump in the side of his right ear, as the former president had turned and moved his head at the exact timing of the gunshots.
However, 50-year-old rally goer Corey Comperatore and two others were not so lucky. Comperatore passed away on that day after being hit by the barrage of bullets, while the other two men were quickly rushed to the hospital.
In terms of the Senate report, it also revealed that counter snipers were on site due to this exact “credible intelligence” of a threat, yet the majority of Secret Service personnel who spoke to the committee still claimed that they had been unaware of the threat.
Secret Service agents said that they “could not identify” who had the final authority to make decisions during the Trump event.
“It was almost like an ‘Abbott and Costello’ farce with ‘who’s on first’ finger pointing by all of the different actors,” stated Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), “It was really truth being stranger than fiction.”
“Every single one of these actions is directly related to a failure in the U.S. Secret Service’s planning, communications, intelligence sharing and law enforcement coordination efforts,” Chairman Gary Peters stated on Tuesday. “Every single one of these failures was preventable, and the consequences of those failures were dire.”
Despite the egregious mistakes by the lead agent and other Secret Service members, they still refused to accept any responsibility when questioned by investigators on the security failure findings.
The lead agent’s identity has not been made public, however, during a July hearing with Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe, Missouri Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) stated “I know their name,” referencing the lead agent.
Secret Service spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi also stated that the agency reviewed the report and agreed that the committee’s findings aligned with many of the Secret Service’s “Mission Assurance Review,” revealing multiple communication issues as well as a lack of “due diligence.”
“The weight of our mission is not lost on us and in this hyperdynamic threat environment, the U.S. Secret Service cannot fail,” Guglielmi stated. “Many of the insights gained from the Senate report aligned with the findings from our mission assurance review and are essential to ensuring that what happened on July 13 never happens again.”
The committee has reportedly completed 12 interviews, reviewed roughly 2,800 documents, and conducted a walkthrough inspection at the Butler rally site, with additional interviews expected in the coming weeks.
Committee aides have not confirmed if the probe will expand or continue, looking into the second assassination attempt, which took place earlier this month at Trump’s West Palm Beach golf club. However, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced at a recent Justice Department event that the DOJ will “waste no resources” in the agency’s investigation of the second incident.
“We’ve put a lot of meat on the bones here but we are a long way from getting the information we need,” stated Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), a member of the investigation subcommittee.
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