A bipartisan House task force that investigated the assassination attempts against President-elect Donald Trump released its final report of the shocking incidents on Tuesday, saying the Pennsylvania attempt was “preventable and should not have happened” while crediting the Secret Service for preventing the one in Florida.
The 180-page report cites “various failures in planning, execution, and leadership” ahead of the shooting at Trump’s campaign rally on July 13, including the Secret Service’s failure to mitigate line of sight between the rooftop on which Thomas Matthew Crooks lay and the Butler event stage. That day was characterized by fragmented communications between federal and local law enforcement, among other security lapses.
Instead of narrowing the problem down to a “singular moment or decision,” the task force emphasized there were numerous factors at play that gave the shooter an opportunity to fire eight shots at Trump and rally attendees.
“The various failures in planning, execution, and leadership on and before July 13, 2024, and the preexisting conditions that undermined the effectiveness of the human and material assets deployed that day, coalesced to create an environment in which the former President — and everyone at the campaign event — were exposed to grave danger,” the task force wrote.
The group released its preliminary report in October, also concluding that the Butler incident was entirely “preventable.”
In the final report, one of the Secret Service’s most abject oversights revealed was its failure to secure the American Glass Research building that allowed Crooks to evade law enforcement and open fire on the crowd.
The federal agency also failed to clearly direct state and local police about who was responsible for securing the Butler venue, the task force said. A lack of adequate assets and manpower was also a concern, but it was not properly addressed. Additionally, snipers believed they were responsible for monitoring the rally and crowd, not the area outside the secure perimeter where Crooks was stationed.
“The failures that led to the tragic events of July 13 were not entirely isolated to the campaign event itself, or the days preceding it. Preexisting issues in leadership and training created an environment in which the specific failures identified above could occur,” the report states.
“Secret Service personnel with little to no experience in advance planning roles were given significant responsibility, despite the July 13 event being held at a higher-risk outdoor venue with many line of sight issues, in addition to specific intelligence about a long-range threat.”
Meanwhile, the task force praised the Secret Service for protecting Trump from harm in the second assassination attempt.
“Conversely, the events that transpired on September 15, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Florida, demonstrated how properly executed protective measures can foil an attempted assassination,” the report says.
However, there were a few missteps that merited the task force’s attention. The now-arrested gunman, Ryan Wesley Routh, took advantage of a spot that photographers often use while Trump was golfing.
“Despite the Trump International Golf Club being surrounded by public roads and protected only by a chain-link fence, trees, and brush, the Secret Service did not implement the full scope of [redacted] prior to former President Trump’s arrival on September 15,” the report reads.
It adds the site had “critical vulnerabilities” regarding its outer perimeter, which the Secret Service knew potential snipers could use.
Furthermore, Trump’s security detail was notified that he intended to golf around 12:30 p.m. that day. But Trump made a last-minute request to leave for the golf course just after 11 a.m., bumping up his schedule by an hour.
Routh waited about twelve hours on the property before Trump showed, according to his cell phone data. A Secret Service agent ultimately fired upon the would-be assassin, causing him to flee from the scene right before his arrest. It was not believed that Routh had a clear line of sight of Trump.
To prevent similar failures in the future, the task force provided 25 general recommendations related to the first assassination attempt and an additional eleven recommendations for Secret Service. For example, the agency is recommended to record all on-site radio transmissions, which did not happen in Butler, and reduce the number of foreign leaders under its protection in order to focus more on protecting the president and other U.S. officials.