The Secret Service acknowledged Friday failures that led to a gunman being able to wound former President Donald Trump at a rally in Butler, Pa., on July 13.
“It’s important that we hold ourselves to account for the failures of July 13 and that we use the lessons learned to make sure that we do not have another failure like this again,” Ronald Rowe, the acting director of the Secret Service, told reporters.
The agency released the initial findings for its internal review about the Butler incident on Friday, just days after it faced additional criticism over a second alleged gunman who was able to make it within several hundred yards of Trump at his West Palm Beach, Fla., golf course on Sept. 15.
Rowe said that one of the failures in Butler was that the Secret Service deferred too much to local law enforcement on securing buildings near the rally and didn’t provide clear guidance. This allowed the shooter to climb onto the roof of a nearby building and shoot at the former president, he said.
“We need to be clear with our state and local partners on what we’re asking of them,” Rowe said.
The agency's review details, for example, that the local tactical team was inside the building, instead of on the roof — from where the shooter ended up getting a clear shot at the president. That local team had no contact with the Secret Service before the day of the rally.
"Multiple law enforcement entities involved in securing the rally questioned the efficacy of that local sniper team’s positioning in the AGR building, yet there was no follow-up discussion about modifying their position," the review found. "There was also no discussion with Secret Service advance personnel about positioning that team atop the AGR roof. Local sniper support were apparently not opposed to that location."
Rowe cited “complacency” from other agents, flaws in advanced planning, as well as over-reliance on mobile devices.
The review found that communication broke down on multiple levels. Secret Service agents and local law enforcement officials missed communication in planning, in operations — and on the day of the rally itself, used different radio frequencies that "were not conducive for quickly sharing real-time information."
Rowe said employees would be held accountable, declined to give details, but reiterated that contrary to media reports, he did not ask for anyone to resign.
"Robust security" for Trump
Rowe said since he left office, the former president has had “robust security” — more robust than any former president has ever received. That security was increased to a presidential level after the July 13 shooting.
The Secret Service has come under scrutiny since July, when a gunman fired multiple shots at Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, at the Butler rally, striking Trump’s ear, killing one attendee and wounding two others. The gunman was killed.
Then, two months later, a second alleged gunman came close to Trump — though he did not shoot, and did not have the former president in his sights. The suspect was apprehended.
Rowe said that based on information he had about the second incident, "I’d say that situation was managed according to our training.” That included the young Secret Service agent taking swift action, reporting shots he fired at the gunman, and communicating via radio.
Still, the multiple attempts have prompted Lowe and other Secret Service personnel to ask Congress for more resources, arguing the agency is limited on personnel and equipment. President Biden has also urged Congress to provide more resources.
On Friday, the House unanimously approved a bill that would direct the Secret Service to give the same protection as the current president and vice president — something the agency said is already happening.
Lawmakers also increased the scope of a bipartisan task force that is investigating the first assassination attempt to also investigate the apparent second attempt. The group of bipartisan House members is expected to file its own report in December.
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