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Documents summoned by the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs show a major failure among six US Secret Service (USSS) agents who were suspended without pay in response to an attempted assassination of then-presidential candidate Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13, 2024.
USSS previously told Fox News that the agent was disciplined in February, but documents show that five agents were not disciplined until April.
An interview with USSS shows that the main site agents are not ready or trained, and fellow agents say they don’t know what they’re doing with Butler.
The campaign’s rally marked the first time the agent secured an outdoor rally, claiming that ground agents lacked basic knowledge.
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Secret Service agents will be setting up Donald Trump after being shot at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13, 2024. (Jeff Swensen/Getty Images)
The interview also revealed that several agents acknowledged the existence of major security concerns at the Butler rally, but none of them helped raise concerns or develop plans to properly cover the roof that 20-year-old Thomas Crooks provided a clear shot of Trump.
The document shows that some agents in charge did not carry out a walkthrough of the site. For example, the Lead Advance Agent said that she never did the final security walk for the rally site because she was in the hospital due to heat exhaustion, the special agent in charge said when asked.
However, this document digs deeper into six agents disciplined for the failure of security details.
Secret Service suspends six agents tasked with protecting Trump during the July 2024 assassination attempt
The officer surrounds Thomas’ con man on the roof of the AGR after the counter-niper kills him. (Butler TWP Police Department)
Lead Advance Agent
Lead Advance Agent spent 21 years at USSS, six of which were spent in the Vice President’s Protection Division.
The agent was suspended for 14 days despite April’s documents indicating that the agent was suspended without paying for 21 days. According to the Secret Service, the agent was the most advanced and experienced agent on the Advanced Team, but was unable to secure a rally site.
The documents show that the lead agent was aware of the gaze concerns, but she failed to address the issue or create a plan to secure the building.
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President Trump is supported by US Secret Service officials after being shot at a campaign rally at the Butler Farm Show in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13th.
In her interview, lead agent said he didn’t know that three local snipers were inside the AGR building, not on the rooftop where the con artists were sitting on when he shot Trump.
Counter Sniper Team Lead
The countersniper team lead has 10 years of experience with the USSS, two years in the Unified Division and eight years in the Countersniper program.
The countersniper lead was suspended for 52 days without pay in April, but only offered for 35 days. He is currently in official limited mandatory status.
Agents are accused of not walking the entire Butler Rally site, and instead use “Google and Stuff” to look at the site. He also failed to talk or cooperate with the local sniper team, and did not pick up the radio provided by local law enforcement agencies to communicate with other teams.
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Donald Trump responds when multiple shots rang at a campaign rally at Butler Farm Show, Pennsylvania, July 13, 2024 (Reuters/Brendan McDermid)
The Secret Service said at the level of lead sniper experience he should have known how to successfully protect the basis. The Sniper also said during the interview that he received a text message that the fraudster was suspicious but was unable to warn the lead site agents and the security room.
Site Agent
One of the disciplinary site agents has five years of experience with USSS and was originally notified of being suspended for three days in April. However, the Secret Service changed the length of discipline to 42 without pay, the document shows.
The Secret Service said agents failed to communicate that there was an aggressive threat on the day of the rally and that there was an aggressive threat to teams on the ground. The Secret Service also said that the agent criticized others for the security failure, but that she was ultimately the person responsible for all security.
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The vehicle carrying Donald Trump is surrounded by US Secret Service agents after being shot in a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on Saturday, July 13, 2024 (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
After the assassination attempt, agents spoke with reporters and shared information about behind the scenes of the rally, documents show.
Senior Special Agent Site Counterpart
The counterpart of the Senior Special Agent site had 20 years of experience, including experience dealing with presidential details. The counterpart was disciplined for 14 days without pay in April, but she insisted that she should not be punished. Instead, the agent denounced the site agent.
The counterparts of the Senior Special Agent site were assumed to be responsible for securing the site and identifying threats, the document shows.
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Donald Trump is supported by a US Secret Service representative after being shot dead at the Butler Farm Show in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13, 2024.
In an interview, the counterpart told USSS that the site agents she worked with didn’t know “basics,” adding that it’s not her job to “coach” the site agents.
The Secret Service also said local police emailed senior police plans to secure the area, but she never opened or read the plan.
Special Agents at the Pittsburgh Field Office
The special agent in the Pittsburgh field office has 24 years of experience with the USSS, just a few days after Larry has taken up telework status. In November, the agent was reassigned to work with the cybertraining program, and in January he was told he would be suspended for 14 days without pay.
According to the documents, the agents said under questioning that they had no idea there was a threat to Trump before the rally. The agent told the Secret Service that if he had known about the threat he would have encouraged him to move the Larry inside or sought more resources.
Agents also told the Secret Service that the team assigned to Trump’s protective details knew the threat and should have changed plans.
Assistant to special agent in charge of the Pittsburgh office
The sixth agent disciplined was an assistant to the special agent in charge of the Pittsburgh Field Office.
The assistant admitted that he had 24 years of experience with the USSS and had not prepared for the Butler Rally. Documents show that without preparation, the assistant had little understanding of Butler’s security plans.
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Furthermore, the assistant never met with lead agents, did sitewalks, and did not involve agents in site briefings or viewing the site’s diagrams.
As a result, the assistant was suspended for 10 days without pay in April.
Greg Wehner is a news reporter for Fox News Digital.
Story tips and ideas can be sent to greg.wehner @fox.com and Twitter @gregwehner.
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