A new report has uncovered a series of U.S. Secret Service failures that allowed would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks to fire a shot that struck Donald Trump in the right ear during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13.
The bipartisan U.S. Senate investigation detailed technical issues that plagued Secret Service drones on the day of the incident. The agent in charge of the Counter Unmanned Aircraft Systems (C-UAS) called a toll-free tech support hotline to troubleshoot problems with the drones, instead of having immediate backup in place.
As a result, drones remained grounded for several hours, and the agent overseeing drone operations had only three months of experience with the equipment.
The report, released on Wednesday, September 25, concluded that these preventable failures contributed directly to the assassination attempt.
Crooks, a 20-year-old shooter, managed to hit Trump in the ear, kill one rally attendee, and critically injure two others before being neutralized by a counter-sniper.
Crooks had positioned himself on a nearby building just a few hundred feet from where Trump was speaking, firing eight rounds from an AR-15 at the former president.
The assassination attempt has prompted the U.S. Congress to consider increasing funding for the Secret Service to enhance staffing and countermeasure capabilities.
However, the Senate report also criticized the Secret Service for other questionable actions, noting that poor coordination among security agencies, unclear chains of command, and multiple communication channels contributed to the security failures.
In addition, the inexperienced drone operator was left on a helpline trying to resolve equipment issues while crucial moments were lost.
Senator Gary Peters of Michigan, the Democratic chairman of the Homeland Security panel, stated, “The consequences of those failures were dire.”
