New report lays out ‘shocking’ Secret Service failures that nearly led to Trump’s death

Donald Trump is shielded by Secret Service agents after an assassination attempt in Pennsylvania in July.

Anna Moneymaker via Getty Images

A Senate report laid out Secret Service failures prior to Trump’s assassination attempt.The agency failed to plan, communicate, and coordinate, the report said.The Secret Service told BI it had begun implementing many of the committee’s suggested fixes.

Four senators on Wednesday released a bipartisan report chronicling the myriad failures by the Secret Service that preceded an assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump in July.

Two Democratic senators, Gary Peters of Michigan and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, and two Republican senators, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, said in a press release that “security planning, communications, and coordination failures” contributed to the attempted assassination.

Peters called the Secret Service’s missteps “shocking,” while Paul said the failings were an “inexcusable dereliction of duty.”

The interim report from the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee said that the Secret Service failed to “clearly define responsibilities” during the fateful rally.

The report also said Secret Service personnel responsible for planning coverage of the July 13 event “denied that they were individually responsible for planning or security failures and deflected blame.”

Officers failed to make sure the AGR building — where the shooter ultimately perched before firing at Trump — was “effectively covered,” even though it had been identified as a concern, the report found.

The staff report states that the Secret Service was told that local police had seen a “suspicious person with a rangefinder” near the building at about 5:45 p.m.

By 5:52 p.m., at least eight Secret Service personnel had been told about the suspicious person, according to the report. The gunman opened fire at 6:11 p.m.

Trump and two bystanders were wounded, and one rallygoer was killed.

The report also found the Secret Service “failed to effectively coordinate with state and local law enforcement” and didn’t provide resources, including “Counter Unmanned Aircraft Systems capabilities and a Counter Assault Team,” which could have boosted Trump’s protection.

In a statement to Business Insider, the Secret Service said it’s taken steps since the assassination attempt to address the issues.

“The weight of our mission is not lost on us and in this hyperdynamic threat environment, the US Secret Service cannot fail,” the agency’s chief of communications, Anthony Guglielmi, told BI in a statement.

“We take the work of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee seriously and have begun to implement many of their proposed enhancements,” he added.

The Secret Service’s changes include “elevating the protective posture for our protectees and bolstering our protective details as appropriate,” Guglielmi said.

He added the agency is also “enhancing communications and interoperability with our federal, state, and local partners.”