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The House select committee that investigated the two assassination attempts against President-elect Trump released a report Tuesday that found the July 13 attack on Trump’s rally in Butler, Pa., was “preventable and it shouldn’t have happened.”
The report determined that there was no “singular moment or decision” that led to the near-killing, but was the result of “several failures in planning, execution and leadership… (that) combined to create an environment in which the former president—and all participants in the campaign event—were exposed to grave danger.”
Many of the committee’s findings have been explored by other investigative reports, including the failure to recognize the safety risks associated with the AGR building from which shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks fired, control and manpower insufficient before the event and technological problems that kept various police entities from communicating with each other.
While Trump survived the attack with only an injured ear, the shooter killed one rally attendee and seriously wounded two others.
“These technology and communication failures hampered law enforcement’s pursuit of Crooks and led to missed opportunities to intervene. The breakdowns also disrupted the flow of information that should have been passed to the Secret Service personnel with the ability to remove the former president from the stage,” the report states.
The findings align closely with a internal review drafted by the Secret Service in September.
“The House task force’s findings align with our internal mission assurance investigation. Today’s report reinforces our decision to bring changes to the Secret Service. We continue to act to acquire new technologies, strengthen training, developing our staff, and seeking resources to strengthen the Secret Service,” the agency said in a statement Tuesday.
And acting director Ronald Rowe has been very critical of his own agency since taking over from her predecessor Kimberly Cheatle he left office shortly after the attack after a disastrous congressional appearance in which she refused to answer basic questions about the shooting and was accused of a lack of candor.
Rowe has said the agency needs to make a paradigm shift, blaming complacency for not considering the potential for attacks against its proteges. He has asked for increased funding as the agency has faced pressure to improve its technology and expand its pool of agents.
But he has also defended the agency’s actions during a second assassination attempt, when more agents spotted and foiled an attack by Ryan Wesley Routh outside Trump’s Palm Beach golf course in September.
Tuesday’s report, however, was more critical, arguing that Routh should not have been allowed to get so close to the fence.
“Unfortunately, the property was subject to critical vulnerabilities, particularly related to its exterior perimeter, which the Secret Service had previously identified as a favorable position for potential snipers,” they said.
The report recommends enhanced sweeps of the property, either through drones, golf carts or “layoffs” of service personnel.
The select committee’s investigation included three visits to Butler, Pa., West Palm Beach, Fla., and Quantico, Va.; 46 transcribed interviews with law enforcement officers; more than 18,000 pages of documents; and five citations, among other investigative actions.
The task force report said, however, that Department of Homeland Security policies “restricted certain important documents from in-camera review,” stating that “overclassification of the documents hampered the task force’s investigation.” The committee’s pending requests include transcribed interviews conducted by DHS and signed agreements between the Secret Service and other law enforcement agencies assisting that day. The agency also did not disclose who has been placed on administrative leave, which Rowe also declined to answer questions about citing privacy.
While the committee’s group of lawmakers prides itself on working on a bipartisan basis, there were some points of tension as it investigated the attack and held public hearings.
At a hearing last week, Rowe took part a shouting matchwith Rep. Pat Fallon (R-Texas), saying the lawmakers’ line of questioning about their stance on the 9/11 event was politicizing the tragedy.
And in a September hearing, Democrats on the panel boycotted a panel that included Reps. Cory Mills (R-Fla.) and Eli Crane (R-Ariz.), who had launched their own “independent” research. in the assassination attempt and used their experience as snipers to provide intelligence on the security perimeter around the demonstration.
Updated at 3:37 p.m
