The Secret Service had “little resources” to cover the July 13 campaign rally where former President Donald Trump was nearly assassinated in Pennsylvania after the conclusion of a NATO summit in Washington, D.C., according to congressional whistleblowers.
The whistleblowers told the House Judiciary Committee that Secret Service Special Agent in Charge Tim Burke revealed the oversight at a July 8 meeting with the FBI, Western Pennsylvania Fusion Center and other law enforcement partners.
The meeting was held to talk over security needs for Trump’s fateful event in Butler, Pa., on top of first lady Jill Biden’s separate event on behalf of her husband’s campaign in Pittsburgh the same day.
House Judiciary Committee chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) wrote to FBI Director Christopher Wray on Thursday to divulge the whistleblowers’ disclosures to his panel.
“Law enforcement overlooked a number of vulnerabilities prior to and during the event, allowing an assassin to shoot a President, murder an attendee, and critically wound two others,” Jordan said.
“This tragedy demands a full and transparent investigation,” he added, emphasizing that FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate promised a “rapid” investigation with “maximum transparency.”
“We cannot comment on matters related to an ongoing investigation at this time,” Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said in a statment.
“We of course are committed to working with the appropriate and relevant investigations of what happened on July 13, including with Congress, the Inspector General, and both internal and independent reviews,” he added.
Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, opened fire at the Butler Farm Show fairgrounds at least 10 minutes after he had been labeled a “threat” against the 45th president, law enforcement sources told The Post on Wednesday.
Everything we know about the Trump assassination attempt
- 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks was identified as the shooter who attempted to assassinate Donald Trump during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania.
- Crooks was shot dead by Secret Service agents.
- The gunman grazed Trump’s ear, killed a 50-year-old retired fire chief, and injured two other rally-goers.
- Investigators detailed Crooks’ search history to lawmakers, revealing that he looked for the dates of Trump’s appearances and the Democratic National Convention.
- Crooks’ search history also revealed a broad interest in high-profile people and celebrities, regardless of their political affiliation, FBI officials reportedly said.
- Trump exclusively recounted surviving the “surreal” assassination attempt with The Post at the rally, remarking, “I’m supposed to be dead.”
- High-profile politicians, including President Biden and Vice President Harris, addressed the nation about the shooting, calling it “a heinous, horrible and cowardly act.”
House and Senate lawmakers were also informed in Wednesday briefings with FBI and Secret Service officials of the warning — and that Crooks had also been flagged as a “character of suspicion” more than an hour before he took eight shots, striking Trump in the right ear and killing another rallygoer, Corey Comperatore.
Two others were wounded.
A local police counter-sniper team from Butler was stationed inside the AGR International Inc. factory building, but somehow missed Crooks setting up a sniper’s perch on its roof, just 130 yards away with a clear line of sight on Trump.
Another Butler Township cop also confronted Crooks just before he opened fire — but retreated and fell from the roof after the would-be assassin wheeled and pointed his AR-style semi-automatic assault rifle at him.
Neighbors next to the rally site have also told The Post they were never contacted by law enforcement to set up security before the campaign event.
Photos from nearby show the gates into the facility were only zip-tied shut, allowing the shooter easy access.
Guglielmi told The Post that his agency’s embattled director, Kimberly Cheatle, has no plans to resign — despite mounting calls from House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and others in the face of the massive security lapses.
“Continuity of operations is paramount during a critical incident and US Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle has no intentions to step down,” Guglielmi siad.
“She deeply respects members of Congress and is fiercely committed to transparency in leading the Secret Service through the internal investigation and strengthening the agency through lessons learned in these important internal and external reviews,” he added.
Former law enforcement officials were also enraged at Cheatle’s deflection about officers not securing the roof of the manufacturing plant during Trump’s speech.
“That building in particular has a sloped roof at its highest point. And so, you know, there’s a safety factor that would be considered there that we wouldn’t want to put somebody up on a sloped roof,” she admitted in a shocking interview with ABC News.
“And so, you know, the decision was made to secure the building, from inside,” she said.
Wray is also scheduled to testify in a public hearing with the committee on July 24.