Several high-ranking Secret Service agents are set to step down ahead of the public release of findings from an internal investigation that was launched in the wake of the July 13 assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump that killed retired firefighter Corey Comperatore and wounded three, including Trump.
According to a report from the Washington Post quoting two anonymous sources, the findings will heavily criticize the agency for failing to communicate with local law enforcement, as well as their failure to secure the rooftop from which deceased gunman Thomas Matthew-Crooks fired from. Local law enforcement have heavily criticized the Secret Service in the weeks following the shooting, as the agency reportedly skipped a briefing earlier in the week and were not synced up with local law enforcement radios.
A number of resignations have already taken place ahead of the report’s release. Mike Plati, the assistant director of the Office of Protective Operations, officially retired on Friday, according to a statement from the Secret Service.
John Buckley, a senior official responsible for public event security, is also set to retire soon, according to an internal Secret Service email. In addition, a senior agent from the Pittsburgh field office, which was responsible for security in Butler County, PA, will also soon be stepping aside, according to a source familiar with the investigation.
The agents who were part of Trump’s protective detail on the day of the shooting have been placed on administrative leave, while former Secret Service Director Kim Cheatle announced her resignation roughly a week after the assassination attempt.
Several independent and congressional investigations have been commissioned in the weeks following the attempt on the former president’s life. Earlier this week, Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) suggested that the internal investigation’s findings will be damning.
“I think the American people are going to be shocked, astonished, and appalled by what we will report to them about the failures by the Secret Service in this assassination attempt on the former president,” he told reporters.
The Secret Service probe is reportedly set to reveal that the agency’s radio room had no ability to monitor real-time threats and receive alerts from local police, who were patrolling the crowd and the perimeter. Several rally goers alerted police to a suspicious man crawling on a roof, prompting one police officer to confront the gunman. He was ultimately forced to retreat when crooks aimed his weapon at him as he peered over the rooftop.
The report is also set to confirm that local police alerted the Secret Service to Crooks’ presence on the roof, though this was not relayed over Secret Service radio channels. Counter-snipers were instead instructed to take a photo of Crooks and continue to monitor the situation.
Acting Secret Service director Ronald Rowe is reportedly set to concede that “numerous errors” plagued the agency’s set-up and response on July 13. “In response to questions about the report, Rowe said in a statement that the report found numerous errors for which the agency must be held accountable, and that he has begun an agency-wide review to harden the protective bubble around the more than 40 government officials and family members the Secret Service protects. He warned that beefing up this security will cost money,” the Washington Post reported.
“The Secret Service cannot operate under the paradox of ‘zero fail mission’ while also making our special agents and uniformed division officers execute a very critical national security mission by doing more with less,” Rowe told the outlet.
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