Gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks unleashed terror on July 13 with a grim plan to assassinate former President Donald Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Nearly two months later, the shocking details surrounding the event continue to fuel widespread interest.
Senator Josh Hawley reignited the controversy during an interview on “Jesse Watters Primetime” on Tuesday evening. He revealed that whistleblowers shared disturbing information about the day’s security failures, which left 50-year-old fire chief Corey Comperatore dead and two others injured.
Hawley raised serious questions about the readiness of the agents responsible for Trump’s safety, claiming that most of the security personnel assigned to protect the former president had minimal training.
Rather than a large contingent of Secret Service agents, the Missouri senator alleged that the majority were Homeland Security officers who had only completed “a two-hour, online webinar” before the rally. Hawley added, “I’m told half the time, the sound on the webinar didn’t even work.”
Expressing his outrage, Hawley said, “Think about this: the former president of the United States is sent on stage, most of the people there are not properly trained or qualified. They received a faulty webinar, and even that was inadequate.”
The senator also highlighted that the Homeland Security agents assigned to the event were not regulars for such duties, and many had been pulled from unrelated investigations, including child exploitation cases, to safeguard Trump.
On September 3, Hawley addressed these concerns in a letter to Secret Service Acting Director Ronald Rowe, calling for an investigation into the training protocols.
He shared the letter on X (formerly Twitter), writing, “HSI agents should be properly trained when working with the Secret Service. Whistleblower allegations suggest they are unprepared, especially for high-profile details like former President Trump’s.”
Hawley cited the whistleblower’s account: “Imagine 1,000 people logging into Microsoft Teams simultaneously, with no prior warning. The Secret Service instructor couldn’t get the audio to work on the training videos, restarting them six times. The content was ineffective.”
The assassination attempt itself occurred when Crooks, stationed on a rooftop near the rally, opened fire just before the Republican National Convention.
Trump sustained a minor injury to his ear, while the 20-year-old gunman was ultimately neutralized by a Secret Service sniper. Before their intervention, a Butler SWAT team had already engaged Crooks, damaging his rifle, as revealed by U.S. Representative Clay Higgins.
