The Secret Service agent in charge of former President Donald Trump’s July 13 rally in Butler, Pa., “was known to be incompetent” and “failed a key examination during their federal law enforcement training,” according to new whistleblower allegations released by a Republican lawmaker.
Whistleblowers alleged that the agent placed “flags around the Butler stage and catwalk, impairing visibility” — despite such items being “typically prohibited because of how they affected the line-of-sight of those agents responsible for identifying threats,” a 21-page report unveiled Monday by Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) shows.
The allegations also note that Secret Service intelligence units “were absent from the Butler rally,” which would have “mitigated” the communication breakdown that occurred just minutes before Trump, 78, took the main stage and was struck by a would-be assassin’s bullet on the right ear.
“The hospital site where former President Trump received treatment after the shooting was poorly secured,” the report also states. “The Secret Service site agent responsible for hospital security did not know what was going on and could not answer basic questions about site security.”
Reps for the Secret Service did not immediately respond to a request for comment.