‘Cascade of failures’ led to Trump assassination attempt, report finds

A US Senate report released said a “cascade” of failures allowed a gunman to shoot at Donald Trump during a campaign rally last year and faulted Secret Service discipline including the lack of firings since the attack.

The report was released on Sunday, Washington time, a year after a 20-year-old gunman opened fire on Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, grazing his ear, accused the Secret Service of a pattern of negligence and communications breakdowns in planning and execution of the rally.

US President Donald Trump, right, salutes alongside first lady Melania Trump as they attend the Club World Cup final soccer match in New Jersey on Sunday.Credit: AP

“This was not a single error. It was a cascade of preventable failures that nearly cost President Trump his life,” the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee report said.

The Secret Service is charged with protecting current and former presidents and their families, as well visiting foreign leaders and some other senior officials.

One attendee of the July 13, 2024, rally was killed and two others were injured in the shooting. The gunman, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, was subsequently shot to death by Secret Service agents.

“This was not a single lapse in judgment. It was a complete breakdown of security at every level – fuelled by bureaucratic indifference, a lack of clear protocols, and a shocking refusal to act on direct threats,” the committee’s Republican chairman, Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, said in a statement.

He told CBS there was “cultural cover-up” related to critical security failures before the attack.

Kimberly Cheatle resigned as the director of the Secret Service 10 days after the shooting, amid harsh scrutiny of the agency’s role. Six Secret Service agents who were on duty during the attempt received suspensions ranging from 10 to 42 days, the agency said on Thursday.

For the first time since her departure, Cheatle on Sunday pushed back publicly against congressional criticism that she had denied additional security requests.

“For the Butler rally, I actually did direct additional assets to be provided, particularly in the form of agency countersnipers,” Cheatle said in a statement, the New York Times reported.

Former Secret Service boss Kimberly Cheatle.Credit: Bloomberg

“Any assertion that I provided misleading testimony is patently false and does a disservice to those men and women on the front lines who have been unfairly disciplined for a team, rather than an individual, failure.”

The committee said more than six officials should have been punished and that two of those who were disciplined received lighter punishments than it had recommended. It highlighted the fact that no one was fired.

Current Secret Service director Sean Curran – who was the head of Trump’s security detail at the time of the rally – said in a statement that the agency had received the report and would continue to co-operate with the committee.

“Following the events of July 13, the Secret Service took a serious look at our operations and implemented substantive reforms to address the failures that occurred that day,” he said.

Trump on Sunday noted the anniversary of the failed attempt on his life.

“It remains my firm conviction that God alone saved me that day for a righteous purpose: to restore our beloved Republic to greatness and to rescue our Nation from those who seek its ruin,” Trump said in a statement.

He also hailed doctors, first responders and rallygoers who helped guide other attendees to safety, saying, “These men and women arrived at the rally grounds as ordinary Americans, but left as heroes”.

Reuters, AP