Senate final report describes ‘cascade of preventable failures’ by Secret Service during Trump assassination attempt in Butler

The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee released a report July 13 about the United States Secret Service’s (USSS) multiple failures to prevent the assassination attempt made last July against then-former President Donald Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, that injured multiple people and killed firefighter Corey Comperatore. 

The report, announced by Committee chairman and Republican Sen. Rand Paul, KY, in a July 13 press release, comes exactly one year since the attack, which was perpetrated by a shooter identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks. While Trump was speaking onstage at the July 13, 2024 rally, Crooks took several shots from a rooftop about 150 yards from the rally. Crooks was then reportedly killed by a USSS sniper. 

After the attack, the Senate Committee and the US Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations launched a joint investigation into the USSS’ failures related to the tragedy by conducting 17 transcribed interviews with USSS personnel and reviewing more than 75,000 pages of related official documents, according to the final report. A preliminary report on the investigation was released in September 2024. 

The Committee’s 22-page final report released this week details eight key findings from its investigation, including that “USSS agents failed to communicate crucial information regarding the suspicious individual to President Trump’s shift detail, which had the ability to prevent him from taking the stage.” 

The USSS also “denied multiple requests for additional staff, assets, and resources” to help protect Trump throughout the campaign, and through the Butler event the USSS and state and local law enforcement had “a severe lack of coordination and communication,” according to the report. 

“This was not a single error. It was a cascade of preventable failures that nearly cost President Trump his life,” the report states. 

According to the report, 25 minutes before the attack occurred, the PSP Security Room Officer alerted the USSS Security Room Agent that a “suspicious individual” — later identified as Crooks — was outside of the perimeter and possessed a rangefinder. The report includes a transcript of a subsequent interview with the PSP officer, who states that the alert of the suspicious individual was met with “a lack of urgency” from the USSS Security Room Agent. 

Upon receiving the alert, the USSS Security Room Agent had another agent relay the information over the phone, rather than radio, to the USSS Counter Sniper Response Agent. As a result, “the message did not go out to USSS post standers, counter snipers, and DTD shift detail,” the report states. “The [Assistant to the Special Agent in Charge of DTD] stated in his transcribed interview that the information should have been elevated to someone at his level. Had the ATSAIC of DTD on the DTD shift been aware of the information, he could have potentially prevented the President from taking the stage while the suspicious individual was being tracked down.”

The report states that “[t]he lack of structured communication was likely the greatest contributor to the failures of the USSS on July 13, 2024.” 

Another one of the eight key findings was that USSS agents in charge of security at the Butler rally were not notified of pertinent threat intelligence related to Trump. 

One of the other findings is that no counter snipers were present at Trump’s rally July 9, 2024, in Doral, Miami, even though USSS leadership had recently authorized counter snipers to be at all outdoor Trump rallies because of intelligence threats.

Furthermore, another stated finding was that in the wake of the Butler rally tragedy, the USSS did not fire anyone involved in the rally’s planning and coordination and only formally disciplined six personnel. 

In the July 13 press release, Paul said that what took place in Butler “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,” he 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.”

The final report and transcripts of the committee’s interviews with USSS agents can be accessed here. 

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