Multiple Secret Service personnel, including one agent on former President Donald Trump’s detail, were placed on leave six weeks after the...
Multiple Secret Service personnel, including one agent on former President Donald Trump’s detail, were placed on leave six weeks after the assassination attempt on Trump at his Butler, Pennsylvania, campaign rally, Fox News reported on Friday.
Along with the agent on Trump’s detail, four members of the Secret Service’s Pittsburgh field office, including the special agent in charge, were placed on administrative leave. The agency has faced intense criticism after a 20-year-old gunman accessed a rooftop lookout just 130 yards away from the president before firing eight shots, one of which struck Trump’s right ear.
“The U.S. Secret Service is committed to investigating the decisions and actions of personnel related to the event in Butler, Pennsylvania and the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump. The U.S. Secret Service’s mission assurance review is progressing, and we are examining the processes, procedures and factors that led to this operational failure,” Anthony Guglielmi, Chief of Communications for the U.S. Secret Service, said in a statement, according to CNN.
“The U.S. Secret Service holds our personnel to the highest professional standards, and any identified and substantiated violations of policy will be investigated by the Office of Professional Responsibility for potential disciplinary action. Given this is a personnel matter, we are not in a position to comment further,” the statement added.
The Secret Service is under new leadership after Kimberly Cheatle resigned last month following the assassination attempt and criticism of the agency. Cheatle was grilled by Congress and refused to provide specific details on the investigation. After taking over as Acting Director, Ronald Rowe acknowledged earlier this month that the roof the shooter accessed to fire shots at Trump “should have been covered.”
“This was a Secret Service failure,” he added.
The public still knows few details about how Secret Service and local law enforcement agents missed an armed man setting up in a position so close to the former president, especially since rallygoers said they tried to warn authorities of the suspicious man minutes before shots were fired. Trump supporter Corey Comperatore was killed in the July 13 shooting, and rallygoers James Copenhaver and David Dutch were injured by bullets.
Just two weeks after being shot, Trump posted on Truth Social that he “will continue to do outdoor rallies,” adding that he trusts his Secret Service protection. Trump held his first outdoor rally since the assassination attempt on Wednesday, where the Secret Service installed bullet-proof glass around Trump on the stage.
During his visit to the U.S. southern border in Arizona on Thursday, local authorities were on the hunt for a 66-year-old man who allegedly threatened to kill Trump. The suspect was arrested within hours. Trump told the Daily Mail that he wasn’t surprised someone had threatened to kill him in Arizona.
“And the reason is because I want to do things that are very bad for the bad guys,” he said. “So, I have heard, it’s very unsafe to make this trip. There were some people that really didn’t want me to make it.”
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