A new report from the Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security indicated that the United States Secret Service had several opportunities to stop the assassination attempt against Donald Trump at a 2024 campaign rally in the town of Butler, Pennsylvania, and chose to ignore them.
The report consists of 64 pages and asserts that the agency, which was under the control of the Joe Biden administration at the time, failed to detect, prevent, or neutralize the shooter, the far-left terrorist Thomas Crooks, before he opened fire on the then-Republican candidate on July 13, 2024.
The document cites serious failures in communications, intelligence sharing, venue security, and drone operations to secure the perimeter. It highlights that the Secret Service did not receive 102 radio transmissions from local police warning about Crooks's presence because a joint communications room was never established with the agents guarding the event.
Long before the shooting, police had already warned about the presence of a suspicious man in the vicinity of the complex where Trump's event was to take place. Subsequent transmissions alerted that the suspect had climbed onto the roof and was armed with a rifle. Despite these alarms, Trump's protection team was never informed of the growing latent threat.
