Federal officials planned former President Donald Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania with “loose security,” according to whistleblower allegations. A gunman at the rally shot and wounded the former president, injured two attendees, as well as killed firefighter and father Corey Comperatore.
“According to the allegations, the July 13 rally was considered to be a ‘loose’ security event,” Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., wrote in a Friday letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. “[A]llegations suggest the majority of DHS officials were not in fact USSS [Secret Service] agents but instead drawn from the department’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).”
Security was a “stunning failure” at Trump’s Butler rally, Hawley wrote. Citing whistleblower allegations, he said agents did not use K-9 detection, did not maintain proper security near the podium or rally perimeter, and allowed unauthorized people into “backstage areas.”
Allegations claimed the HSI agents staffing the rally were “unfamiliar with standard protocols typically used,” according to Hawley.
“DHS assigned unprepared and inexperienced personnel,” Hawley posted on X.
Hawley wrote Mayorkas that DHS had not been “appropriately forthcoming with members of Congress,” citing a Secret Service call that ended “abruptly” “before most Senators could even ask a question.”
“This is completely unacceptable and contrary to the public’s interest in transparency,” Hawley wrote in the letter. “We have learned more from whistleblowers than your department’s officials. I will continue to protect the anonymity and confidentiality of all who contact my office.”
Hawley said his office aims to “continue” its investigation. He asked Mayorkas a list of questions, including what percentage of agents staffing the rally were from HSI or DHS rather than from the Secret Service, if gaps existed in the security perimeter, and how long agents spent surveying the area beforehand.
Trump’s would-be assassin reportedly hid a gun at the rally site before the event.
Security Lapses
The House Judiciary Committee wrote FBI Director Christopher Wray Thursday, saying “[l]aw enforcement overlooked a number of vulnerabilities prior to and during” the rally.
The Secret Service held two briefings on July 8 with “stakeholders” including FBI staff to discuss security being stretched between the Trump rally, a nearby First Lady Jill Biden event, and a North Atlantic Treaty Organization meeting in Washington, D.C, according to the letter.
Secret Service Spokesman Anthony Guglielmi, the Monday after the assassination attempt, denied that “resources were diverted” from Trump.
“The committee has several unanswered questions about the failures that led to the attempted assassination of a president — the first in over forty years,” the letter from the House Judiciary Committee reads, “as well as the FBI’s ability to conduct a rapid, transparent, and thorough investigation in the wake of its recent scandals.”
Trump’s security detail had reportedly been asking for increased resources for weeks before the rally, only to be denied by the Department of Homeland Security. Guglielmi also claimed this was false.
At the rally, officials drew the security perimeter to exclude the building the would-be assassin used. They left a clear line of sight from the rooftop to Trump.
Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle said officials did not place snipers on the shooter’s roof because it was “sloped.” But the shooter’s roof was nearly flat, easily navigable for law enforcement after the rally. Counter-snipers at the same rally were stationed on a roof with a more significant slope.
Police reportedly told the Secret Service beforehand they did not have enough “manpower” to secure the building from which the shooter fired. A police officer reportedly saw the shooter with a rangefinder and backpack before the attempted assassination and reported this to a “command center.”
Secret Service agents “spotted” the shooter on the roof 20 minutes before the assassination attempt, according to ABC News. Rally attendees also saw the shooter before shots were fired, pointing and shouting to nearby law enforcement.
When a bullet grazed Trump’s right ear, he ducked and Secret Service agents dove on top of him. They ushered him to his vehicle, leaving his head unprotected. One female agent fumbled with her holster, another seemed to be stumbling back and forth, and another lost her sunglasses and put them back on.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, announced an investigation Wednesday into the “monumental security failure” that allowed the assassination attempt. He sent letters to the Secret Service, DHS, DHS Office of Inspector General, Department of Justice, and FBI calling the current lack of information “unacceptable.”
Cheatle ran away from questions posed by Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn, and Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., on Wednesday at the Republican National Convention.
Chair of the House Oversight Committee James Comer, R-Ky., issued a subpoena Wednesday for Cheatle to show up to a July 22 hearing regarding the assassination attempt.
Cheatle confirmed Friday she will attend the hearing.