A new report from the federal Government Accountability Office (GAO) outlines the U.S. Secret Service’s security failures during the first attempted assassination of then-presidential candidate Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Butler, Pa., one year ago.
The report, ordered by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, reveals that the Secret Service received classified intelligence regarding a threat to Trump’s life 10 days before the rally, but failed to share the information with other key agencies. It also identified a series of procedural and planning mistakes, including “misallocation of resources, lack of training and pervasive communication failures” that led to the near assassination.
“One year ago, a series of bad decisions and bureaucratic handicaps led to one of the most shocking moments in political history,” Grassley said. “The Secret Service’s failure on July 13 was the culmination of years of mismanagement and came after the Biden administration denied requests for enhanced security to protect President Trump. Americans should be grateful that President Trump survived that day and was ultimately reelected to restore common sense to our country.
Trump, whose campaign had requested enhanced security but was denied by the Biden administration, was grazed in the right ear while addressing the crowd. Secret Service agents swarmed him, but he famously rose to his feet as he was being hustled to safety, raised his fist in the air and exhorted horrified onlookers to “Fight, fight, fight.” One man in the crowd, Cory Comperatore, was killed protecting his family, while two others were injured. A 20-year-old local man, Thomas Crooks, was shot dead by counter snipers as he crouched on the roof of a nearby building.
“There were mistakes made, and that shouldn’t have happened,” Trump told his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, on Fox News.
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Author: Marty Kaufmann
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