Report finds communication errors before Trump’s assassination attempt

A five-page document summarizing the Secret Service report’s key conclusions faults both local and federal law enforcement, highlighting the numerous and wide-ranging failures that preceded the July 13 shooting at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in which Trump was shot in the ear.

Although the failed response has been well documented through congressional testimony, news media investigations and other public statements, the report released Friday represents the Secret Service’s most formal attempt to catalogue the day’s mistakes. It comes as renewed investigations are underway following the arrest on Sunday in Florida of a man who authorities say wanted to kill Mr. Trump.

“It is important that we hold ourselves accountable for the mistakes of July 13 and use the lessons learned to ensure that a mission failure like this one does not happen again,” said Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe Jr. in a statement on the release of the report on the agency’s internal investigation.

The report describes a series of “communication failures” before the shooting of 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, who was shot by a Secret Service sniper after firing eight shots in Trump’s direction from the roof of a building less than 450 feet from Trump’s speech.

This makes it clear that the Secret Service was aware even before the shooting that the rally site posed a security risk.

Among the problems is the fact that some local police officers on site were unaware of the existence of two communications centers on the premises and that the officers were therefore unaware that the Secret Service was not receiving their radio transmissions.

Law enforcement agencies also transmitted important information outside of Secret Service radio frequencies.

When officers searched for Crooks before the shooting, details were not transmitted over the Secret Service network but rather “delayed or fragmented via mobile devices.”

“The failure of personnel to radio the description of the attacker or important information received by local law enforcement regarding a suspicious person on the roof of the AGR complex to all federal officers at the Butler site compromised the collective attention of all Secret Service personnel,” the report said.

This breakdown was particularly problematic for Trump’s security forces, “who were unaware of how focused state and local law enforcement were on locating the suspect in the minutes before the attack.”

If they had known about this, the report says, they could have made the decision to relocate Trump while the search was still underway.

The report raises more serious questions about why there were no police officers stationed on the roof where the crooks climbed before opening fire.

A local tactical team was stationed on the second floor of a building in the complex from which Crooks fired.

Several law enforcement agencies questioned the effectiveness of the team’s position, “but there were no subsequent discussions” about changing that position, the report said.

And there were no discussions with the Secret Service about sending a team to the roof, even though local law enforcement snipers “apparently had no objections to that location.”

The tactical team operating on the second floor of the building had no contact with intelligence before the rally.

This team was called in by the local police department to assist with the incident without the Secret Service’s knowledge, the report said.

The Secret Service knew in advance that the venue posed a security risk because it was chosen by Trump’s staff because it could better accommodate the “large number of desired participants.” The sight lines could be exploited by potential attackers.

And yet, the report says, no security measures were taken on July 13 to address these concerns. Nor did the Secret Service have detailed knowledge of what local law enforcement support would be available.

However, the summary of the report does not name any specific individuals who might be responsible for the incident, nor does it report whether any disciplinary action was taken against employees.

The Associated Press had previously reported that at least five Secret Service agents had been given modified duties.

Then-principal Kimberly Cheatle resigned more than a week after the shooting, saying she took full responsibility for the mistake.

The Secret Service investigation is one of numerous investigations, including by Congress and an oversight agency through the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General.

Rowe said the July shooting and Sunday’s incident – in which 58-year-old Ryan Wesley Routh was arrested after Secret Service agents discovered a rifle in the bushes at the edge of the West Palm Beach, Florida, golf course where Trump was playing – underscore the need for a paradigm shift in the way the Secret Service protects public officials.