Senate report details "preventable failures" surrounding Butler assassination attempt
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Artist Scott LoBaido unveils a portrait of fireghter Corey Comperatore, who was killed in an assassination attempt on President Trump, ahead of a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on October 5, 2024. Photo: Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images
The U.S. Secret Service denied multiple requests for additional resources from President Trump's detail during his campaign, according to a new report on the Butler, Pennsylvania, assassination attempt.
The big picture: The report released Sunday from the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs detailed a "disturbing pattern of communications failures and negligence" that led to the death of a rally-goer and sparked intense scrutiny into USSS protocols.
- The report arrived one year after a gunman shot at Trump while he was giving a speech during a campaign rally. Corey Comperatore, a former fire chief attending the rally, was killed while shielding his family from the gunman.
- Since the assassination attempt, reports from lawmakers and the USSS have revealed failures in security planning and execution, communications breakdowns and tech issues that preceded the shooting.
What they're saying: Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), the chairman of the committee that compiled the new report, said on CBS News' "Face the Nation" Sunday that former Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle "did not tell the truth" when she testified to Congress that no security assets were denied for the rally.
- The report, citing USSS documents, said the agency's headquarters denied or left unfulfilled at least 10 requests from "the Donald Trump Division" for resources during his campaign, including for counter-unmanned aerial system assets and counter-sniper personnel.
- For the Butler rally, the committee did not find an "explicit denial" for counter-drone assets but said an agent revealed in an interview that a request was denied over the phone by a technical security division advance agent — a report that "was corroborated by documentation from USSS."
- Pressed by CBS News' Margaret Brennan whether Paul believes there was no record of the denial or if the former director actively misled Congress, he described the incident as a "cultural cover-up."
USSS Director Sean Curran said in a statement provided to Axios that the agency had received the report and will continue to work with the Senate committee moving forward.
- "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 noted.
Flashback: Cheatle, amid blistering scrutiny and bipartisan calls to step aside, resigned from her post last July after a grilling on Capitol Hill.
- Six USSS agents were suspended in connection with their conduct on the day of the attempted assassination, and the agency has implemented numerous reforms in the wake of the shooting.
- In December, a House panel concluded the assassination attempt was "preventable."
Zoom in: "It was a cascade of errors," Paul said on Sunday. "It was just one after another. When we talk to people in charge of security, everybody pointed the finger at someone else."
- The report, which includes findings from 17 transcribed interviews with USSS personnel, also stated that before the shooting, there was no formal process "to submit a request and justification" and "therefore, there was no standard response concerning approvals or denials of such requests from USSS Headquarters."
- Documents obtained by the committee "revealed a pattern of certain categories of requests being either blatantly denied, unfulfilled, or required to be supplemented by local law enforcement or other federal agencies," the report read.
- The USSS did not respond to Axios' request for comment.
The bottom line: Comperatore "could have possibly been saved by having better security that day," Paul said.
- In a statement, Paul called for accountability among the USSS, noting "no one has been fired."
- He continued that the Senate committee only learned about who was disciplined over the security failures after he issued a subpoena to the USSS.
- "That's unacceptable. This was not a single lapse in judgment. It was a complete breakdown of security at every level," the statement said.
Go deeper: How the shooting changed Trump — and how it didn't
Editor's note: This story has been updated to include a statement from the U.S. Secret Service.
