Lawmakers in the House of Representatives who were given the task of investigating the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump back on July 13, 2024, stated on Monday that had the Secret Service actually been prepared, the incident would have never happened. In other words, the Secret Service blew it. Big Time. And that colossal mistake almost cost a former — and possibly future — president his life. People need to be held accountable for this debacle.
“The House Task Force on the July 13 assassination attempt in Butler released a 53-page interim report detailing the ‘stunning security failures’ that led to Trump being struck in the ear by a bullet fired by 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks. These failures included numerous communication errors and inadequate planning to secure the site,” The Daily Wire reported.
“Put simply, the evidence obtained by the Task Force to date shows the tragic and shocking events of July 13 were preventable and should not have happened,” the task force explained.
The report reveals a number of important findings from their investigation, including one that says the Secret Service allowed individuals attending the rally to get within 150 yards of the former president without going through a proper security screening.
“The Task Force found that the [American Glass Research] parking lot was in fact closed to vehicle traffic, but a crowd gathered on the adjacent grassy area near the chain link fence that marked the outer perimeter established by the Secret Service,” the report continued. “Onlookers in that area did not need to pass through the event’s magnetometers to see the rally stage — despite being approximately 150 yards from where the former President was speaking.”
Additionally, the task force noted that the Secret Service recognized that areas outside the security perimeter were risks but didn’t take the proper steps to secure them. “Despite its proximity to a main road, clear sight lines to the stage, and elevated position, the Secret Service placed the AGR complex outside the secure perimeter for the event, meaning that the crowd that gathered there was not screened by USSS or other law enforcement,” the report said. “The consequences of that decision were compounded by the fact that state and local law enforcement posted near the complex did not have complete visual coverage of the area.”
Crooks got to the roof of the shed by using an air conditioning unit as a sort of step ladder. Once at the top, he got settled in and then opened fire on Trump, injuring the former president’s ear, along with wounding two others in the crowd, and killing 50-year-old retired firefighter, Corey Comperatore. A local officer had an encounter with Crooks before he began firing, as the officer tried to climb up on the roof.
“I see Crooks facing downrange towards the stage, but his eyes are back at me as I’m coming up,” the officer said to the task force. “And I would say, like, his facial expressions was surprised. His eyes were very big, like, what are you doing up here?”
“And as I’m coming up and he’s got the gun pointed at me, I don’t know if I reach for my gun, if I slip, but all I know from that point is I’m looking at him, and all my weight is on my, like, arms, my hands, and I don’t have a grip,” the officer stated, elaborating on why he was unable to stop Crooks.
The officer fell to the ground and radioed out that there was a man with a gun on the roof. The task force said it has no evidence that this warning reached Trump’s Secret Service detail before Crooks opened fire. While the FBI has said that a Secret Service sniper took out Crooks, one local police officer said he fired at Crooks and believed that he hit him. FBI investigator Kevin Rojek said that the agency had “no forensic evidence indicating that that round either struck our subject or the subject’s rifle.”
Again, what I hope comes out of this is some accountability. Individuals who failed to properly discharge their duty and ensure the safety of both the crowd and the president deserve to be let go from their positions. The Secret Service must do better than this.