When U.S. Secret Service snipers pulled into a farmhouse in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 10, just three days before THE assassination attempt As for former President Donald Trump, it was the first time this campaign cycle that the highly trained tactical unit was deployed to secure an event for the former president.
“This was the first time Secret Service countersnipers were deployed in support” of a Trump event this year, acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe confirmed to CBS News at a press conference Friday at the federal law enforcement agency’s headquarters in Washington, D.C.
On July 13, an armed man opened fire on Trump from a rooftop about 400 feet from the former president during an outdoor campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. CBS News Video Analysis Investigators determined that the shooter, 20-year-old Thomas Crooks, fired eight shots in less than six seconds before being fatally shot by one of the snipers, a fact later confirmed by the FBI.
Among the many security lapses Rowe revealed Friday afternoon, the acting director told reporters that Secret Service snipers had no radio communication with local law enforcement that day. Instead, agents relied on text messaging, with local Butler County tactical teams texting Secret Service snipers two photos of Crooks at 5:45 p.m., about 26 minutes before the shots were fired.
At the time, neither local law enforcement nor the Secret Service knew Crooks had a weapon. Rowe revealed that neither the snipers nor Trump’s bodyguards knew that the suspect — first spotted by local law enforcement about 75 minutes earlier — was armed until the shots were fired.
“I’ve asked that everybody use the radio network,” Rowe said. “And if we don’t have the ability to connect or leverage that peer system, that’s one of the solutions we’re looking at right now.”
Communications were also disrupted, Rowe explained, because there were two separate command posts in use that day: a “Secret Service security room” and a separate command post manned by local law enforcement. Only one Pennsylvania State Police officer was assigned to the operation. There were no Secret Service personnel in the agency’s security room, and there were no Secret Service members in the local law enforcement command post, a situation Rowe described as “unique,” worthy of further investigation.
“If the vast majority of our partners are in a unified command post or a different location, we probably need to be there too,” Rowe added.
According to a Secret Service timeline released by Rowe on Friday, At 5:53 p.m., the chief countersniper for the U.S. Secret Service sent a text message to his team that local law enforcement was “looking for a suspicious individual outside the perimeter loitering around the AGR building,” referring to the rooftop from which the shooter later opened fire on Trump.
“At this time, Secret Service agents are aware that local law enforcement is working on a case of a suspicious individual,” Rowe said. “The concept of local police working on such cases is common at the sites.”
Rowe noted that several suspicious persons had been reported to the Secret Service on July 13, as well as more than 100 calls to local law enforcement to handle issues ranging from general requests for assistance to medical issues to reports of missing children.
At 6:11 p.m., moments before the shooting, a member of Trump’s protection team contacted a counterpart at the Pittsburgh field office of the Secret Service to follow up on that earlier communication, but it was too late. As the agents spoke on the phone, gunshots rang out.
“In the middle of that phone conversation, the gunshots started ringing out,” Rowe said.
Rowe described the lack of cover on the roof where Crooks was located as “a failure of the secret service”, adding: “The roof line should have been covered. We should have had a better overall view.”
The Secret Service also did not deploy a drone to the rally site, Rowe said, with the agency also declining an offer from local law enforcement to use their drone. The acting director said he did not know why the offer was declined, calling it another protocol issue that will be examined.
“One of the other changes I implemented when I became interim director is that we will now leverage the use of unmanned aerial systems on sites,” Rowe said.
The assassination attempt has prompted increased scrutiny of Secret Service operations, with several departments and Congress being asked to investigate. ongoing investigations. Rowe took over as head of the agency last week, replacing Kimberly Cheatle resigned under pressure from legislators.
The Senate Appropriations Committee considered Wednesday meeting plans delayed and to consider funding for the U.S. secret service for next year.
In testimony Tuesday before the Senate Homeland Security and Judiciary committees, Rowe conceded that on July 13 “The shooting has shamed me,” adding that he “cannot justify why this roof was not better secured.”
Scott MacFarlane and Kaia Hubbard contributed to this report.
