Internal investigation finds deficiencies that contributed to the assassination of former President Trump

2024-09-21 19:40:33, Kosova & Bota CNA

Internal investigation finds deficiencies that contributed to the assassination

The Secret Service says the opportunity for a lone gunman to shoot former President Donald Trump eight times during a campaign event in Pennsylvania was partly the result of multiple failures by agents tasked with protecting the former president. .

The report on the agency's internal investigation into the assassination of the former president, now a Republican presidential candidate, identified problems with communication and coordination before the July 13 rally in Butler, as well as excessive reliance on partner law enforcement agencies. at the state and local level.

"We cannot abdicate responsibility or pass it on to others," Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe told reporters in Washington on Friday.

"The Secret Service did not provide clear guidance or direction to our local law enforcement partners," he said. "Although some members of the vanguard team were very punctual, there was carelessness on the part of others, which resulted in a breach of security protocols."

The assassination attempt shocked much of the United States and prompted the then-Director of the Secret Service to resign.

Law enforcement officials have said the assassination attempt was carried out by 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, who acted alone and suddenly saw the former president as a possible target.

Despite the presence of bodyguards protecting former President Trump, deployed vanguard teams and local law enforcement units, suspect Crooks managed to climb a building overlooking the rally and position himself with an AR rifle before being discovered. .

The shooting wounded former President Trump and two rally participants, and killed a third.

Internal investigation finds deficiencies that contributed to the assassination

The Secret Service report released Friday focuses on what the agency described as a "lack of communication" at the gathering, blaming agents for failing to make sure the site and surrounding areas — including the roof of the nearby building — were properly secured. .

Mr Rowe said that while there were discussions with law enforcement in particular about the building in question, there were no follow-up conversations to ensure that adequate safeguards were in place.

"We should have been more direct," he said. "It was assumed that arrangements had been made for that building, but clearly there was no follow-up to ensure this was the case."

Other problems included the failure of the Secret Service to ensure that local law enforcement agencies knew how to communicate with agents in the field. As a result, former President Trump's bodyguards were not informed about the search being made for a suspicious person.

Had they known, they could have made a decision to move the former president to a safer place.

Mr. Rowe told reporters that Secret Service personnel responsible for the lapses would be held accountable, but he denied reports that some had been asked to resign.

"This agency administers some of the most powerful penalties in the entire federal government, and those penalties will be administered according to our disciplinary process," he said.

The release of the Secret Service report comes less than a week after what officials have described as a second possible assassination attempt on former President Trump.

Florida sheriff's office officers arrested 58-year-old Ryan Wesley Routh, stopping him on a major highway Sunday, about an hour after he left the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach.

Officials said data collected from Mr. Routh's cellphone showed he lay in wait for 12 hours, hiding in bushes along the perimeter fence between fairways five and seven of the golf course with an SKS rifle.

Mr. Routh got away without ever firing a shot, after a member of the Secret Service vanguard team spotted his rifle sticking out of the bushes and fired several shots at him.

The agent's reaction "is exactly what we are trained for and exactly what we want our personnel to do," Mr Rowe said on Friday. "He identified the danger, an individual with a long gun, made quick decisions and took quick action to avoid the danger."

Mr. Rowe also said that since the July 13 assassination of former President Trump, the Secret Service has provided him and Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris with the same level of protection as President Joe Biden.

He also said that since former President Trump left office, his security teams have been "more beefed up than for previous former presidents."

But the acting director of the Secret Service said the increased security levels are coming at a cost, asking US lawmakers for more funding and personnel.

"We have limited resources," Mr Rowe told reporters. "We spend a lot of tools and resources."

"We are already using these resources to the maximum"./ VOA