Secret Service draws flak for claiming agents weren't warned of suspicious person at Donald Trump rally

BUTLER, PENNSYLVANIA: Members of former president Donald Trump’s Secret Service detail have raised serious concerns about not being informed of a suspicious person being tracked by local police at a rally in Pennsylvania.

This alleged lapse in communication preceded a shocking assassination attempt where a gunman shot Trump in the ear, as per the Washington Post.

Assassination attempt of Donald Trump and communication breakdown

The Secret Service agents on duty at the rally have stated that they were not included in several alerts sent within the 25 minutes before Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire on Donald Trump. Three insiders made this claim to the Washington Post.

The detail was reportedly also kept in the dark when local counter-snipers lost track of Crooks, and when a local officer saw the 20-year-old perched on a nearby rooftop with a gun.

The attack resulted in the death of an audience member, a firefighter who shielded his family from the bullets and left two others seriously injured. Trump, who was the target, sustained a graze wound to the ear.

Investigators are working to determine whether any information about the suspicious person was relayed to Trump’s security detail or other operational teams within the Secret Service.

Col Christopher L Paris, head of Pennsylvania State Police, testified before the House Homeland Security Committee, asserting that a trooper in a command center with Secret Service agents verbally relayed the report about the suspicious person to the agents. The agents then requested that the warning be forwarded to a phone number.

Anthony Guglielmi, a Secret Service spokesman, declined to comment on specific questions regarding radio communications received by Trump’s security detail at the Butler rally.

He said in a statement, “As it relates to communications at the rally, the Secret Service is committed to better understanding what happened before, during, and after the assassination attempt of former President Trump to ensure that never happens again. That includes complete cooperation with Congress, the FBI, and other relevant investigations.”

Possible causes of breakdown and details of Thomas Crooks' movements

An official with knowledge of the situation suggested to The Washington Post that the breakdown might have been due to law enforcement dismissing the threat posed by Crooks.

Suspicious persons are commonly reported at public events, but not all reports necessitate a change in plans or alerting the senior official’s security detail, which consists of about five to ten agents who form the innermost ring of security.

Typically, these individuals are located within the Secret Service perimeter of the rally, which requires magnetometer screenings and potential full-body pat-downs. However, Crooks was lying just outside the secure area.

The gunman first raised suspicions when he passed through the security screening area with a rangefinder, a device similar to binoculars used by hunters and target shooters to measure distances for long-range shots. This occurred three hours before he opened fire.

An officer spotted Crooks using the rangefinder and looking at his phone nearly an hour before Trump took the stage. He was reported a third and final time minutes before the shooting, with two officers seeing him on the roof and taking pictures of him for alerts that either weren’t acted upon or received in time to prevent the tragedy.

The Secret Service has faced strong criticism for failing to stop Crooks before he fired on Trump, leading to the resignation of Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle on Tuesday, the New York Post reported.

Secret Service excoriated on social media

The agency was also widely criticized on social media after they claimed they weren't informed that local police were tracking a suspicious person at the rally.

"Yeah right," one social media user sarcastically wrote on X.

"Please tell me this is a parody or something. Isn't it their damn job to watch for suspicious people in the first place?" asked another.

"Funny, everyone else caught it," another quipped.

"They photographed the guy on the roof and sent out his picture as a suspicious person but claim they weren't warned?" someone else wondered.

"Shifting the blame - Dear Secret Service - Bottom line- you failed & you were responsible," read one comment.

"Luckily for them, there are no recordings of their radio charter to confirm. Back to a 'he said she said' situation with local cops pointing at the SS & vice versa. Exactly what they want, in order to obfuscate. No one has been fired yet or placed on leave," another offered.

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