Secret Service agents on leave over Trump assassination attempt: reports
What questions remain in Trump assassination attempt
FILE - (Aug. 13) It's been one month since the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump at his campaign rally in Butler, PA, and there are many questions that remain unanswered. LiveNOW's Andrew Craft breaks it all down with former Secret Service agent Bill Gage and national security analyst Hal Kempfer.
Multiple Secret Service agents, including a member of Donald Trump’s protective team, have reportedly been placed on administrative leave amid an investigation into the assassination attempt against Trump at a Pennsylvania rally July 13.
Fox News confirmed that at least five Secret Service agents, four from the Pittsburgh Field Office and one from Trump’s team, are on leave nearly six weeks after the incident.
The news comes as the Secret Service continues to investigate security failures that allowed 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, the shooter, to access the roof of a building less than 150 yards away from the rally stage in Butler, Pennsylvania where Trump was speaking.
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump is rushed offstage by U.S. Secret Service agents after being grazed by a bullet during a rally on July 13, 2024 in Butler, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
One bullet grazed Trump’s right ear, and firefighter Corey Comperatore, a rally attendee, was shot and killed. Rally-goers James Copenhaver and David Dutch were also shot and injured.
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Former Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned 10 days later. At a congressional hearing Aug. 9, acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe Jr. accepted blame for his own agency's mistakes while also pointedly criticizing local law enforcement for communication breakdowns. Local law enforcement had apparently spotted Crooks on the roof prior to the shooting, but that message wasn’t relayed to the Secret Service.
"Neither the Secret Service counter sniper teams nor members of the former president’s security detail had any knowledge that there was a man on the roof of the building with a firearm," Rowe said at the hearing. "It is my understanding those personnel were not aware the assailant had a firearm until they heard gunshots."
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He said that the shooting amounted to a "failure on multiple levels," including a failure of imagination and a "failure to challenge our assumptions."