As more and more information comes out about the attempted assassination of Donald Trump, new—and ever-more concerning information—is being revealed that shines a harsh light on the Secret Service. After the assassination of John F. Kennedy and the ever-so-close hit on Ronald Reagan, the Service had supposedly been transformed into one of the elite security forces in the world, capable of protecting our leaders from the most nefarious actors, both foreign and domestic.
Yet, here they are, looking like the Keystone Cops.
You don’t have to be an expert to wonder, why was that rooftop not secured? But the news gets worse: turns out the Secret Service knew it was a vulnerability—yet inexplicably left it unprotected.
The rooftop where a gunman shot at former President Donald Trump during a campaign rally was identified by the Secret Service as a potential vulnerability in the days before the event, two sources familiar with the agency’s operations told NBC News.
The building, owned by a glass research company, is adjacent to the Butler Farm Show, an outdoor venue in Butler, Pennsylvania. The Secret Service was aware of the risks associated with it, the sources said.
“Someone should have been on the roof or securing the building so no one could get on the roof,” said one of the sources, a former senior Secret Service agent who was familiar with the planning.
Shooter was about 150 yards from Trump on a rooftop with a direct line of sight to the stage.
It defies every security protocol ever written that this rooftop was not secured, and law enforcement personnel were not standing up there. pic.twitter.com/a1WfwMRZPA
— John Cardillo (@johncardillo) July 14, 2024
It’s an absolutely stunning failure, and law enforcement is blaming it on jurisdictional issues, but I’m sorry, that is just not good enough. The former and very probably future president came within millimeters of losing his life, and you’re blaming it on intra-departmental matters? That is unacceptable.
The Secret Service had designated that rooftop as being under the jurisdiction of local law enforcement, a common practice in securing outdoor rallies, Guglielmi said. Butler County District Attorney Richard Goldinger said his office maintains an Emergency Services Unit team, which deployed four sniper teams and four “quick response teams” at the rally. But he said the Secret Service agents were in charge of security outside the venue.
“They had meetings in the week prior. The Secret Service ran the show. They were the ones who designated who did what,” Goldinger said. “In the command hierarchy, they were top, they were No. 1.”
Unbelievably, it gets worse: multiple witnesses pointed out to law enforcement that there was a man on the rooftop, yet the shooter still wasn’t taken out.
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Let’s call it like it is: the American people don’t care who is in charge of what jurisdiction; we just want our leaders protected. Ultimately, this is what the Secret Service is tasked with ensuring, and they fell down on the job. As my colleague Ward Clark writes, “The Biden-appointed Director of the Secret Service, Kimberly A. Cheatle, has made Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) a priority of the Service rather than just hiring the best, toughest, most dedicated, and, yes, best shots.” Guess what, though—nobody cared what race or gender identity anyone was when the shots rang out.
The security lapse at this rally was an absolute disgrace, and Cheatle must be made to answer. But the failures likely go farther up the chain of command, and it’s imperative that we find who is responsible.
The agents who quickly converged on Trump after he was hit acted heroically, but the failure to secure the site was a dereliction of duty—and we need to know why.
