A series of “stunning failures” by the Secret Service nearly cost President Donald Trump his life in an attempted assassination last year, a new Senate report concludes. The report also accuses former agency officials of lying to Congress about Trump’s protection during the 2024 presidential campaign.
However, some of the failures — and alleged lies — had little to do with the attempt by 20-year-old Thomas Crooks to kill Trump during an outdoor rally on July 13, 2024, in Butler, Pennsylvania.
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Regardless, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee leveled harsh criticisms at the Biden-era Secret Service, saying its investigation found “a disturbing pattern of communication failures and negligence that culminated in a preventable tragedy. What happened was inexcusable, and the consequences imposed for the failures so far do not reflect the severity of the situation.”
At the same time, the committee’s report quoted the top lawyer for the Secret Service — a Trump appointee — as saying “there was no discernible evidence of political animus” behind the agency’s mistakes.
Little new information
The committee’s final report was released Sunday, July 13, the one-year anniversary of the attempted assassination. It contained little new information, instead recounting how one bullet grazed Trump’s right ear, while other shots killed one audience member and wounded two others before a Secret Service sniper shot Crooks to death.
Lawmakers accused former Secret Service leaders of failing to brief agency snipers on intelligence that suggested heightened threats against Trump by Iran. However, investigators have said Crooks had no ties to the Iranian threats.
The report also denounced the agency’s decision to deny a request by Trump’s Secret Service detail to deploy “enhanced” drones over the rally. However, agents used standard drones for aerial surveillance the day of the assassination attempt, and the report did not show whether more advanced devices might have allowed authorities to stop Crooks before he fired.
Still, the committee cited the refusal to send enhanced drones to Butler as evidence that Kimberly Cheatle, then the director of the Secret Service, lied to Congress nine days after the shooting.
She told the committee that agency leaders had denied no requests by Trump’s security detail for additional resources before the assassination attempt. But the committee said that, in addition to the drones, the detail was not provided with a liaison officer between Secret Service counter-assault teams and those working for local and state law enforcement agencies.
The committee’s report did not recommend perjury charges against Cheatle or other Secret Service officials.
Former director responds
Cheatle, a 24-year Secret Service veteran, resigned as director one day after her congressional testimony last July. In a rare public statement released Sunday by her lawyer, Cheatle denied lying and challenged some of the committee’s conclusions.
“While I agree that mistakes were made and reform is needed … that fateful day was literally a perfect storm of events,” Cheatle’s statement said.
The director typically does not approve or disapprove requests for additional resources for field operations, she said, and agency officials — including the current director, who headed Trump’s security detail during the campaign — confirmed the information she shared in congressional testimony.
“Any assertion or implication that I provided misleading testimony is patently false and does a disservice to those men and women on the front lines who have been unfairly disciplined for a team, rather than individual, failure,” Cheatle said.
‘A cultural cover-up’
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Six Secret Service agents were disciplined for failing to prevent an attempted assassination of President Donald Trump in 2024. None of the agents were fired.
The Senate committee contends more Secret Service officials should have been punished and that those who were should have been disciplined more severely.
The agency told the committee that six agents were suspended without pay for a period ranging from 10 days to 42 days. Another agent retired before he faced disciplinary action. That agent allegedly failed to relay reports of a suspicious person, who turned out to be Crooks, to agents who could have kept Trump from going on stage.
“Not a single person has been fired,” the committee said. And “those who were disciplined received penalties far too weak to match the severity (of) the failures. … The American people deserve better.”
The committee’s chairman, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said the Secret Service failed to cooperate with his panel’s investigation.
“I think it was a cultural cover-up for the agency,” Paul told CBS News. “They did not want to assess blame, they did not want to look internally and they wanted to discount any of their actions that might have led to this. This was a cover-your-ass sort of moment.”
Assassination attempt ‘can never be repeated’
The committee’s findings largely mirrored those of the Government Accountability Office, which reported Saturday, July 12, that the Secret Service had intelligence about a threat on Trump’s life 10 days before the rally in Butler. The intelligence apparently related to the Iranian threat.
In a statement, the Secret Service said it has already acted to improve its procedures to guarantee the safety of the president and others it is charged with protecting. The agency said it has created clear lines of accountability and improved information sharing with local law enforcement agencies that assist in the field.
“The agency has taken many steps to ensure such an event can never be repeated in the future,” Secret Service Director Sean Curran said. “Nothing is more important to the Secret Service than the safety and security of our protectees. As director, I am committed to ensuring our agency is fully equipped, resourced and aligned to carry out our important mission each and every day.”
