(Corrects year of shooting, paragraph 4)By Ryan Patrick Jones
In a report released on Sunday by the U.S. Senate, a series of failures were identified that allowed a gunman to shoot at Donald Trump during a campaign rally last year. The report criticized the Secret Service for its lack of disciplinary action, including the failure to dismiss individuals following the attack.
The report, issued a year after a 20-year-old gunman opened fire on Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, causing a graze to his ear, pointed to a pattern of negligence and breakdowns in communication within the Secret Service in the planning and execution of the rally. The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee report stated, “This was not a single error. It was a cascade of preventable failures that nearly cost President Trump his life.”
The Secret Service is responsible for the protection of current and former presidents and their families, as well as visiting foreign leaders and other senior officials. During the rally on July 13, 2024, one attendee was killed and two others were injured in the shooting. The gunman, Thomas Matthew Crooks, was subsequently shot and killed by Secret Service agents.
Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, the committee’s Republican chairman, emphasized, “This was not a single lapse in judgment. It was a complete breakdown of security at every level — fueled by bureaucratic indifference, a lack of clear protocols, and a shocking refusal to act on direct threats.”
Following the shooting, Kimberly Cheatle resigned as the director of the Secret Service, and six Secret Service agents on duty received suspensions ranging from 10 to 42 days. The committee criticized the agency for not taking more severe disciplinary action, highlighting the fact that no one was terminated from their position.
Current Secret Service Director Sean Curran acknowledged the report and stated that the agency would cooperate with the committee. “Following the events of July 13, the Secret Service took a serious look at our operations and implemented substantive reforms to address the failures that occurred that day,” Curran said.
(Reporting by Ryan Patrick Jones in Toronto; Editing by Scott Malone and Chizu Nomiyama)
