Two new government reports have more information about the U.S. Secret Service’s failure to protect President Donald Trump leading up to and during his campaign rally in Butler, Pa., last year where a gunman nearly killed him.
A Government Accountability Office investigation conducted at the request of Senator Chuck Grassley (R., Iowa) found that ten days before Trump’s rally, senior Secret Service officials were given classified intelligence about a threat to Trump, but issues with the agency’s information-sharing practices meant that federal and local law enforcement handling the Butler rally were not told about the threat.
“Although some senior level Secret Service personnel were aware of this threat information, other senior personnel who had responsibilities for providing protective equipment for the rally, report to have been unaware of the threat information,” the GAO report reads.
Secret Service officials told the GAO that the classified information was not shared widely because of restrictions from the intelligence community. The threat information was not specific to the Butler rally or would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks, so it was not considered an imminent threat to life. Given those constraints, the Secret Service lacked an information process for sharing the classified threat to Trump ahead of time.
“Naturally, the American people wanted answers and accountability in the aftermath of this tragedy, and so I worked hard to provide that. The information I’m releasing today is a comprehensive overview of the failures that occurred prior to and on July 13th,” Grassley stated upon releasing the report.
“More importantly, this report offers a clear path forward for the Secret Service to improve, so it can prevent another Butler from ever happening again. This information would not have been possible without congressional oversight, and my work will continue.”
The GAO report provides further details on communications issues, misallocation of resources, and insufficient training for the Butler rally. Those findings are similar to the preliminary investigations into the assassination attempt on Trump that took place immediately after the event.
The GAO interviewed 14 agents with key roles related to the Butler rally, and five of them relied on their own expertise in handling the event because of overly broad guidelines from the Secret Service’s office of protective operations. Ahead of the rally, the Secret Service’s advance team was not required to review local law enforcement’s plans for securing the event. Making things worse, the agent tasked with identifying vulnerabilities at the Butler rally was doing her first large outdoor event in the role.
Initially, the Secret Service’s “war room” denied the Trump protective division’s request for additional counter-surveillance assets, but senior officials aware of the threat intelligence intervened to have counter-snipers at the rally. A counter-sniper ultimately killed Thomas Crooks after he fired eight shots from the American Glass Research building at the Butler Farm Grounds, killing former firefighter Corey Comperatore and wounding several others.
“The U.S. Secret Service has reviewed the Government Accountability Office’s report and we are committed to implementing all recommendations and have already made substantial progress on several of them,” Secret Service Director Sean Curran said in a statement provided to NR addressing the GAO’s findings.
“Following the events of July 13, the Secret Service took a serious look at our operations and implemented substantive reforms to address the failures that occurred that day. The Secret Service appreciates the continued support of President Trump, Congress, and our federal and local partners who have been instrumental in providing crucial resources needed to support the agency’s efforts.”
The other new report on the Secret Service’s mishaps came from the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. Senator Rand Paul (R., Ky.), chairman of the homeland security panel, released the report Sunday on the one-year anniversary of the attempt on Trump’s life in Butler.
Paul’s report similarly observes systemic failures from the Secret Service in assigning responsibilities and communicating vital information necessary to protect Trump. The document describes how the Secret Service failed to relay threat intelligence to those in charge of the Butler rally and struggled to coordinate with local law enforcement partners before and during the event. Likewise, Secret Service agents failed to communicate information related to Crooks to Trump’s protective team, which could have prevented Trump from taking the stage at the rally.
“What happened in Butler, Pennsylvania, was not just a tragedy—it was a scandal. The United States Secret Service failed to act on credible intelligence, failed to coordinate with local law enforcement, and failed to prevent an attack that nearly took the life of a then-former president,” Paul said.
“Despite those failures, no one has been fired. And we only know what little discipline was handed out because I issued a subpoena. That’s unacceptable. This was not a single lapse in judgment. It was a complete breakdown of security at every level—fueled by bureaucratic indifference, a lack of clear protocols, and a shocking refusal to act on direct threats. We must hold individuals accountable and ensure reforms are fully implemented so this never happens again.”
Despite these failures, not one person from the Secret Service responsible for planning and executing the Butler rally was fired after Crooks’s bullet grazed Trump’s ear. The Secret Service disciplined six people for the Butler debacle, and two of them received less than the recommended punishment.
Former Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned from her post last year after receiving bipartisan criticism for refusing to answer basic questions at the first congressional hearing about the agency’s failures in Butler. Paul’s report accuses Cheatle of giving false testimony that the Secret Service did not deny any asset requests pertaining to the Butler rally. The Homeland Security Committee was made aware of at least two instances when asset requests for Butler were denied, a direct contradiction of Cheatle’s testimony. Cheatle denied the finding in a statement responding to Paul’s report Sunday, the first she has given since her resignation.
“The U.S. Secret Service has received the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee’s final report and will continue to work cooperatively with the committee as we move forward in our mission. Following the events of July 13, the Secret Service took a serious look at our operations and implemented substantive reforms to address the failures that occurred that day,” Curran said in a separate statement on Paul’s report.
The assassination attempt on Trump at his July 13, 2024, rally in Butler quickly became an iconic moment for the 45th and 47th president. Trump responded to the gunshot to his ear by getting up off the ground and pumping his fist while yelling “fight!” as blood streamed down his face. The images of Trump pumping his fist instantly became iconic and marked a defining moment of his political comeback last year, which culminated in a decisive electoral victory over former Vice President Kamala Harris.