A Secret Service investigation confirmed security breakdowns that led the way for an attempted assassination of Donald Trump. Agents never directed local police to secure the roof of the building used by the gunman had what the Washington Post calls "an alarmingly slipshod strategy to block a potential shooter from having a clear sight of" Trump on July 13 in Butler, Pa. Agents discussed possibly using heavy equipment and flags to create a visual impediment between the Agr International building and the rally stage. Supervisors found cranes, trucks and flags were not deployed to block the line of sight from that roof. Thomas Crooks was able to climb the building and open fire on Trump, wounding his ear, critically injuring two other people and killing one spectator before being fatally shot by a Secret Service sniper.
The Butler investigation found major weaknesses in the Secret Service’s communication system for events where political candidates appear. Unlike the robust communication system for appearances by the president or vice president, supported by the military, the Secret Service uses a command post for communications that is separate from local police. The fact that police saw a suspicious man before Trump’s arrival was not broadcast widely on Secret Service radio. Instead, local counter snipers were instructed to text a photo of the man — who was behaving oddly near the Agr building and carrying a range finder — to just one Secret Service official, limiting the agency’s awareness of a man who turned out to be the gunman. The report found the Secret Service was slow to beef up security for Trump as he began campaigning, even after the agency had intelligence indicating that there was an Iranian state plot to kill or harm political candidates. The agency now co-locates Secret Service agents and local police in the same command center for public appearances of the presidential candidates.
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