A US Senate report released said a “cascade” of failures allowed a gunman to shoot at Donald Trump during a campaign rally last year and faulted Secret Service discipline including the lack of firings since the attack.
The report was released on Sunday, Washington time, a year after a 20-year-old gunman opened fire on Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, grazing his ear, accused the Secret Service of a pattern of negligence and communications breakdowns in planning and execution of the rally.
US President Donald Trump, right, salutes alongside first lady Melania Trump as they attend the Club World Cup final soccer match in New Jersey on Sunday.Credit: AP
“This was not a single error. It was a cascade of preventable failures that nearly cost President Trump his life,” the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee report said.
The Secret Service is charged with protecting current and former presidents and their families, as well visiting foreign leaders and some other senior officials.
One attendee of the July 13, 2024, rally was killed and two others were injured in the shooting. The gunman, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, was subsequently shot to death by Secret Service agents.
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“This was not a single lapse in judgment. It was a complete breakdown of security at every level – fuelled by bureaucratic indifference, a lack of clear protocols, and a shocking refusal to act on direct threats,” the committee’s Republican chairman, Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, said in a statement.
He told CBS there was “cultural cover-up” related to critical security failures before the attack.
Kimberly Cheatle resigned as the director of the Secret Service 10 days after the shooting, amid harsh scrutiny of the agency’s role. Six Secret Service agents who were on duty during the attempt received suspensions ranging from 10 to 42 days, the agency said on Thursday.
