Sen. Josh Hawley released the Secret Service report and, with it, new claims by the whistleblower.
Hawley found a “compounding pattern of negligence, sloppiness, and gross incompetence that goes back years, all of which culminated in an assassination attempt that came inches from succeeding.”
“On July 13, 2024, former President Donald J. Trump was nearly killed by an assassin’s bullet while hosting a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, and the U.S. Secret Service failed to prevent it,” the Hawley report states. “It was the most stunning breakdown in presidential security since the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan.”
Hawley said the Secret Service, FBI, and Department of Homeland Security “have all tried to evade real accountability.”
“These agencies and their leaders have slow-walked congressional investigations, misled the American people, and shirked responsibility,” the report states.
The Egregious Incompetence
The police offered them drones to surveil the scene, but they refused them.
The Secret Service’s Office of Protective Operations-Manpower told agents in charge of security for the rally “not to request additional security resources because they would be denied.”
The report covers some details already known to the public but reveals other points of failure that have not yet been discussed.
Why did the Secret Service leave a rooftop less than 150 yards away from the stage unsecured in Butler, PA? According to Hawley’s sources, it was too hot for the Secret Service agents and other law-enforcement personnel:
On July 13, law enforcement personnel abandoned the rooftop of American Glass Research Building 6—the roof from which Thomas Crooks attempted to assassinate the former president—because of hot weather.
They were hot? They were obviously DEIs. Let’s see, I left the battleground. There was too much noise. Obviously, Thomas Crooks could handle the heat.
The Secret Service’s Counter Surveillance Division, which performs threat assessments of event sites, did not perform a typical evaluation of the Butler site and was not present on the day of the rally.
On July 13th, the Secret Service’s lead site agent – the agent with specific responsibility for the security of the rally site, including line-of-sight concerns – was a known incompetent. That incompetence led to the placement of items like flags around the Butler stage and catwalk, impairing visibility. The lead agent responsible for the entire Butler visit, including the rally, failed a key examination during their federal law enforcement training to become a Secret Service agent.
On July 13, Supplemental Department of Homeland Security personnel were used to fill in shortages of Secret Service personnel. Some DHS agents were pulled from child exploitation cases for this purpose, and the “training” they received was merely a poor-quality, two-hour webinar.
Secret Service intelligence units are teams of Secret Service agents paired with state and local law enforcement to handle reports of suspicious persons. They were not at the Butler rally.
The hospital site where former President Trump received treatment after the shooting was poorly secured. The hospital site agent could not answer basic questions about site security.
Sen. Hawley said he has corroboration. In this report, Hawley wants the agents fired.
This is only Hawley’s report.
The Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations is working on the J13 assassination attempt, but they aren’t getting cooperation from the administration.
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