Investigators Warn ‘Another Butler Can And Will Happen’ Without Secret Service Reform

An independent panel tasked with investigating the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Thursday said a similar attempt “can and will happen again” without serious reform at the Secret Service. 

In a new 35-page report, the independent panel formed by Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas detailed numerous mistakes made on the day of the attempted Trump assassination at a campaign rally in Butler on July 13. The panel called for new leadership at Secret Service, saying the agency was riddled with complacency and that current leadership lacked critical thinking.

“Thousands of men and women have dedicated their lives to the Secret Service, and we remain grateful to them for their bravery, selflessness, and willingness to serve in a vital role,” the panel said in a letter to Mayorkas attached to the report. “But the Secret Service as an agency requires fundamental reform to carry out its mission. Without that reform, the Independent Review Panel believes another Butler can and will happen again.”

During the July 13 attack, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks fired eight rounds at Trump, striking the former president in the ear, killing 50-year-old rallygoers Corey Comperatore and wounding attendees James Copenhaver and David Dutch. The panel, which included former Bush and Obama administration officials, dedicated its report to Comperatore, Copenhaver, and Dutch. 

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Key mistakes the panel noted from the day of the assassination attempt included the failure to secure the roof of the American Glass Research building from where Crooks fired at Trump, major communication failures, and numerous planning failures. 

Aside from the mistakes made the day of the attack, the panel said that the Secret Service “has become bureaucratic, complacent, and static even though risks have multiplied and technology has evolved.”

In the aftermath of the shooting, the panel said that many personnel involved in securing the rally had done little self-reflection about what mistakes were made or how to improve for the future. 

“Many personnel struggled to identify meaningful examples of either type of observation—what went wrong and what could be done better in the future to prevent a similar tragedy from reoccurring,” the report said. 

The panel found that those planning to secure the rally showed “a surprising lack of rigor in considering the specific risks posed to particular individual protectees.”

For example, one senior agent in charge of coordinating communications for the rally did not know the basic layout of the site, including where the AGR building was located, according to the report. 

The panel strongly recommended bringing new leadership from outside the agency to the Secret Service to address these issues.

Many of the failures identified by the panel mirrored those found by the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, which released a damning report last month on the Secret Service’s handling of the Butler rally. 

Trump returned to Butler earlier this month for a rally where he honored Comperatore and those injured during the attack.