The Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general has released a new report detailing significant security and communication failures surrounding the attempted assassination of President Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, last year. The findings paint a troubling picture of missed warnings and breakdowns that left the president’s protective team unaware of an armed threat until shots were fired.
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From the New York Post:
The report concluded Secret Service “missed multiple opportunities to detect, prevent, and disrupt” deranged gunman Thomas Crooks’ attempted assassination of Trump, including shocking communications failures that resulted in the president’s protective detail never being warned that an armed man had climbed onto the American Glass Research International (AGR) complex’s roof just 155 yards from the stage.
At 6:09 p.m., local law enforcement called the Secret Service and Pennsylvania State Police communications room “warning them of a suspicious person on the AGR complex’s roof,” according to the damning DHS report.
However, the Secret Service communications room supervisor and the agency’s counter drone operator “did not ask for the AGR complex’s location …. did not immediately identify it as a risk” and the supervisor did not even “recall learning that the suspicious person was on the roof” because he had “delegated communications about the suspicious person to the counter drone operator because it was a ‘busy time’ on Secret Service radios and the counter drone operator was sitting near him and offered to help,” the 64-page report continued.
The inspector general’s report revealed that instead of immediately asking local law enforcement where the AGR complex was located, the Secret Service counter drone operator searched for it online and was still doing so when Thomas Crooks opened fire at approximately 6:11 p.m. The gunman fired eight shots, grazing President Trump’s ear, killing firefighter Corey Comperatore, and seriously wounding two other rally attendees before being fatally shot by law enforcement.
Investigators also found that communication failures extended well beyond those final two minutes. Local officers had identified Crooks as suspicious as early as 5:42 p.m. after observing him near the AGR building with a rangefinder. Yet because the Secret Service failed to establish a joint communications room with state and local agencies, the agency missed 102 radio transmissions regarding Crooks’ movements. As a result, President Trump’s protective detail was never informed that an armed suspect had climbed onto a nearby rooftop.
The report identified another decision that may have contributed to the vulnerability. According to investigators, Secret Service personnel proposed placing large trucks between the AGR building and the rally stage to block the line of sight from the rooftop. Trump’s campaign staff reportedly rejected that plan because it would interfere with camera angles for the event, though an alternate truck placement was later approved. The inspector general’s findings add to a series of investigations that have criticized the Secret Service’s planning, coordination, and communication surrounding one of the most significant security failures in modern American history.
As Americans continue to learn more about what happened in Butler, the report underscores the importance of accountability and vigilance among those entrusted with protecting our nation’s leaders. The assassination attempt was a sobering reminder that failures in communication and preparation can have life-or-death consequences. Let’s pray that the truth would continue to come to light, that needed reforms would be implemented, and that those serving in positions of public safety would carry out their responsibilities with wisdom, diligence, and integrity.
What stands out to you from this new report? Share your prayers for accountability, protection, and wisdom in the comments below.
(Excerpt from the New York Post. Photo Credit: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
