1 of 3 | Former President Donald Trump is rushed off stage by U.S. Secret Service after an assassination attempt during a campaign rally at the Butler Farm Show Inc. in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13. On Tuesday, the House task force investigating two assassination attempts during Trump's campaign released its final report, which calls on the Secret Service to make dozens of reforms. File Photo by David Maxwell/EPA-EFE
Dec. 10 (UPI) -- The bipartisan House task force -- investigating two assassination attempts on President-elect Donald Trump as he campaigned over the summer -- released its final report Tuesday. The panel called the July 13 shooting in Butler "preventable" and urged the U.S. Secret Service to make dozens of reforms to prevent future security lapses.
"The Task Force found that the tragic and shocking events in Butler, Pennsylvania were preventable and should not have happened. There was not, however, a singular moment or decision that allowed Thomas Matthew Crooks to nearly assassinate the former president," the 180-page report said, as it blamed "preexisting issues in leadership and training created an environment in which the specific failures identified could occur."
The Final Report of Findings and Recommendations released Tuesday by the Task Force on the Attempted Assassination of Donald J. Trump contains briefings and interviews with the Secret Service, FBI and ATF, as well as federal, state and local law enforcement along with thousands of documents and information from two public hearings.
According to the report, there were inexperienced personnel in the Secret Service due to staffing shortages, there were training gaps across key roles and there was a lack of clear protocols and effective communication on July 13 in Butler.
"The various failures, planning, execution and leadership on and before July 13, 2024, and the preexisting conditions that undermined the effectiveness of the human and material assets deployed that day, coalesced to create an environment in which the former president -- and everyone at the campaign event -- were exposed to grave dangers," the House panel wrote.
The task force, which was led by Chairman Mike Kelly, R-Pa., and Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo., was approved by the U.S. House in July, shortly after Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle testified that the assassination attempt in Pennsylvania was "the most significant operational failure of the Secret Service in decades" before resigning a day later.
During the final House task force hearing last week, Rep. Pat Fallon, R-Texas got into a shouting match with Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe over his attendance at a 9/11 memorial service and his delay in visiting Butler after the first assassination attempt.
In Butler, the eight bullets targeted at Trump claimed the life of an attendee, Corey Comperatore, and severely injured two other supporters David Dutch and James Copenhaver. A bullet grazed Trump's ear before a Secret Service counter-sniper and a Butler County Emergency Services Unit opened fire and killed Crooks.
The final report also focuses on the failure to secure the roof of the building, which was within range of Trump, where the gunman in the Butler attempt was able to access and shoot from. The panel blames the Secret Service for failing to manage the line of sight that day and for failing to act on significant risks.
Two months later in Florida, a Secret Service agent found a would-be assassin lying in wait with an AK-47-style weapon outside the perimeter of Trump's West Palm Beach property as the former president played golf. The special agent opened fire forcing the suspect to flee. Ryan Wesley Routh was arrested hours later and charged with attempted assassination of a political figure in addition to firearms charges.
While the report focuses on the failures of July 13, it commends law enforcement's response to the Sept. 15 assassination attempt in Florida, which "demonstrated how properly executed protective measures can foil an attempted assassination," the report said.
The bipartisan panel makes 25 specific recommendations in its report for Secret Service to improve security. Among those recommendations is to limit its protection of foreign leaders.
Congress, Homeland Security and the U.S. Secret Service should "consider the protective role the USSS plays for foreign leaders and consider whether such duties can be transferred or abrogated in order to focus on the USSS's primary duty: to protect the president and other critical U.S. leaders."
The panel also recommended that Secret Service record all radio transmissions.
"The absence of radio logs or recordings significantly limits the ability to reconstruct events for either investigative or evaluative purposes," the report said. The Secret Service did not record all radio transmissions on July 13 in Butler.
