House Finds Secret Service Responsible For ‘Preventable’ Trump Assassination Attempt

House lawmakers tasked with investigating the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump in Pennsylvania said Monday that the attack never would have happened had the Secret Service been prepared.

The House Task Force on the July 13 assassination attempt in Butler released a 53-page interim report detailing the “stunning security failures” that led to Trump being struck in the ear by a bullet fired by 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks. These failures included numerous communication errors and inadequate planning to secure the site. 

“Put simply, the evidence obtained by the Task Force to date shows the tragic and shocking events of July 13 were preventable and should not have happened,” the task force said. 

One of the key findings of the report concluded that the security perimeter set up by the Secret Service allowed people to get within around 150 yards of the stage where Trump was speaking without going through security screening. 

“The Task Force found that the [American Glass Research] parking lot was in fact closed to vehicle traffic, but a crowd gathered on the adjacent grassy area near the chain link fence that marked the outer perimeter established by the Secret Service,” the report said. “Onlookers in that area did not need to pass through the event’s magnetometers to see the rally stage — despite being approximately 150 yards from where the former President was speaking.”

Additionally, the task force noted that the Secret Service recognized that areas outside the security perimeter were risks but didn’t take the proper steps to secure them. 

“Despite its proximity to a main road, clear sight lines to the stage, and elevated position, the Secret Service placed the AGR complex outside the secure perimeter for the event, meaning that the crowd that gathered there was not screened by USSS or other law enforcement,” the report said. “The consequences of that decision were compounded by the fact that state and local law enforcement posted near the complex did not have complete visual coverage of the area.”

Crooks was able to access the roof of the AGR building using an air conditioning unit to hoist himself up. From there, he opened fire, injuring Trump and two rallygoers and killing 50-year-old Corey Comperatore. 

One local Butler police officer encountered Crooks before he opened fire as he attempted to climb up on the roof. 

“I see Crooks facing downrange towards the stage, but his eyes are back at me as I’m coming up,” the officer told the task force. “And I would say, like, his facial expressions was surprised. His eyes were very big, like, what are you doing up here?”

“And as I’m coming up and he’s got the gun pointed at me, I don’t know if I reach for my gun, if I slip, but all I know from that point is I’m looking at him, and all my weight is on my, like, arms, my hands, and I don’t have a grip,” the officer added, explaining why he was unable to confront Crooks. 

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The officer fell to the ground and radioed out that there was a man with a gun on the roof. The task force said it has no evidence that this warning reached Trump’s Secret Service detail before Crooks opened fire. 

While the FBI has said that a Secret Service sniper took out Crooks, one local police officer said he fired at Crooks and believed that he hit him. FBI investigator Kevin Rojek said that the agency had “no forensic evidence indicating that that round either struck our subject or the subject’s rifle.”

The release of the House report follows several other reports on the assassination attempt from the Senate and from an independent panel created by Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. Each report has found the Secret Service liable for major planning failures and systematic communication breakdowns.