Secret Service report details communications breakdowns leading up to July assassination attempt on Trump

WASHINGTON (AP) — A lack of communication with local law enforcement hampered the Secret Service’s work during the July campaign rally where former President Donald Trump was shot and wounded, according to a document released Friday that details a litany of missed opportunities to stop a man who opened fire from an unsecured roof.

The five-page document, summarizing key findings from the yet-to-be-completed report, lays bare the numerous and wide-ranging failures that preceded the July 13 shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania, in which Trump was hit in the ear.

Those factors included a lack of clear guidance from the Secret Service to local law enforcement, a failure to close sight lines at the rally that exposed Trump to sniper fire, and “complacence” on the part of some agents, said Ronald Rowe Jr., the agency’s acting director.

While the botched response has been well-documented in congressional testimony, news media investigations and other public statements, the summary document released Friday represents the Secret Service’s most formal attempt to catalog its mistakes that day and comes amid heightened scrutiny of the agency following the arrest on Sunday of a man who authorities say followed Trump to a Florida golf course.

“This was a failure of the United States Secret Service. It is important that we take responsibility for the failures of July 13 and use the lessons learned to ensure that this type of failure does not happen again,” Rowe said at a news conference accompanying the release of the summary. The full document is still being finalized.

The report details a series of “communication breakdowns” before the shooting of 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, who was killed by a Secret Service countersniper after firing eight shots at Trump from the roof of a building less than 150 yards from where Trump was speaking. The building had been identified as a potential threat before the incident, Rowe said, but officials failed to take appropriate steps to address potential problems.

“Line-of-sight issues were acknowledged but not adequately mitigated. Issues were encountered on the day of the visit with regard to line-of-sight concerns, but they were not communicated to superiors,” Rowe said. “While some members of the advanced team were very diligent, others were complacent, leading to a breach of safety protocols.”

Other problems: Some local police at the scene were unaware of the existence of two communications centers on the premises, meaning the officers did not know the Secret Service was not receiving their radio transmissions.

Law enforcement also relied excessively on cellphones, rather than Secret Service radio frequencies, to transmit important information. When officers searched for Crooks before the shooting, details were transmitted “via mobile/cellular devices in a staggered or fragmented manner,” rather than through the Secret Service’s own network.

“The failure of personnel to radio a description of the assailant or pertinent information received from local law enforcement regarding the suspicious person on the roof of the AGR complex to all federal employees at the Butler facility diminished the collective awareness of all Secret Service personnel,” the report says, standing for AGR International Inc., a manufacturing facility located just north of the Butler Farm Show grounds where the rally was held.

The breakdown was particularly problematic for Trump’s security detail, “who were not informed of how intently state and local law enforcement was focused in the minutes leading up to the attack on locating the suspect.” If they had known, the report says, they could have made the decision to move Trump to another location while the search for the shooter continued.

The report raises larger questions about why there were no law enforcement officers on the roof where the Crooks climbed before opening fire.

The local tactical team was stationed on the second floor of the building in the complex from which Crooks fired. Multiple law enforcement agencies questioned the effectiveness of the team’s position, “but there was no further discussion” about changing it, the report said. There was also no discussion with the Secret Service about placing the team on the roof, even though local law enforcement snipers “apparently did not object to the location.”

The tactical team operating on the building’s second floor had no contact with the Secret Service before the rally. The team was brought in by the local police department to help organize the event, without the Secret Service’s knowledge, the report said.

The Secret Service understood in advance that the rally site, chosen by Trump’s staff because it better accommodated “a large number of desired attendees,” posed a security challenge due to sight lines that could be exploited by a potential attacker. Yet, as the report notes, no security measures were taken on July 13 to address those concerns, and the Secret Service had no detailed knowledge of the local law enforcement support that would be deployed.

The report’s executive summary does not identify specific individuals who may be at fault or indicate whether any employees were disciplined, although the Associated Press previously reported that at least five Secret Service agents were reassigned to modified duties. The director at the time, Kimberly Cheatle, resigned more than a week after the shooting, saying she took full responsibility for the failure.

The Secret Service investigation is one of several ongoing investigations, including by Congress and an oversight inquiry led by the Department of Homeland Security’s office of inspector general.

Rowe said the July shooting and Sunday’s episode, in which 58-year-old Ryan Wesley Routh was arrested after Secret Service agents discovered a rifle sticking out of bushes on a golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida, where Trump was playing, underscore the need for a paradigm shift in how the agency protects public officials.

Trump, he said, is receiving the “highest level” of protection, and the Secret Service response in Florida was an example of procedures working as they should.

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