Secret Service report on Trump assassination attempt leaked: 'Serious lapses'
The U.S. Secret Service (USSS) briefed members of Congress this week on the assassination attempt against Donald Trump. According to the leaked meeting report, there were serious irregularities on the day of the assassination attempt.
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The U.S. press has obtained and published the report on the Trump assassination attempt. The leaked Secret Service report includes details such as errors made by agents in the hours leading up to the shooting of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, communication breakdowns, and the haphazard security of the scene.
The report is part of the Secret Service investigation into the armed attack that took place on July 13 at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Trump was wounded in the ear during the attack. Additionally, one person attending the rally was killed and two others were injured.
The gunman, Thomas Matthew Crooks, was able to climb onto the roof of a building just a few hundred meters away and fire at Trump with an 'AR'-style rifle. Crooks was shot and killed by snipers, but not before the Republican presidential candidate was wounded.
The assassination attempt sparked outrage due to the Secret Service's handling of the event and the agency's response. It was revealed after the incident that local police had recently 'flagged' Crooks as a 'suspicious person'.
Crooks, who had been identified by police as someone capable of carrying out an 'act of terror', managed to pass through numerous police and Secret Service officers at the Trump rally, climb onto the roof, and open fire.
The aftermath of the attack and the slow-moving investigation led to the resignation of the then-Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle.
U.S. PRESS REVEALS CLASSIFIED REPORT PRESENTED TO CONGRESS
Congressional leaders were briefed behind closed doors on the incident this week. Secret Service officials presented a report detailing key findings from the assassination investigation.
The Washington Post obtained the Secret Service report and detailed some of the findings.
The report stated that agents had discussed using flags and heavy equipment to block the view between the building Crooks fired from and the stage. However, when agents arrived at the rally site on July 13, they found that the trucks and flags had not been positioned to block the line of sight from the roof.
Secret Service officials also found weaknesses in the communication system used at events attended by presidential candidates compared to those used when the president or vice president is speaking.
LOCAL POLICE WARNING ON DAY OF RALLY WAS NOT TAKEN SERIOUSLY
According to the Post, the Secret Service radio room in Butler, where the assassination attempt occurred, did not have the equipment to receive real-time images of the crowd or the outer perimeter from local police surveillance.
According to the report, local police had issued a warning about a suspicious man before Trump arrived. However, this warning was not widely broadcast on the Secret Service radio. Instead, local snipers were told to send a picture of the man to a Secret Service official.
The Washington Post wrote that the person in the photo sent was indeed Crooks. The newspaper described the situation by stating, 'Serious lapses and irregularities stand out.'
Finally, Secret Service agents heard nothing on local police radios about attempts to track the man after Trump began speaking.
According to the Post, when Trump began his election campaign, the Secret Service was also slow to increase security despite intelligence that Iran had plans to kill or harm political candidates.