(Ken Silva, Headline USA) In the wake of the July 13 assassination attempt against Donald Trump, the Secret Service and local law enforcement have traded blame about whose responsibility it was to secure the building used by Thomas Crooks for his shooting.
Initially, then-Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle said local law enforcement had responsibility for the AGR building, but Butler County officials immediately rebuked her. Secret Service Acting Director Ronald Rowe ultimately accepted responsibility for the unsecured rooftop, though he still blasted local snipers from not covering that area from their posts inside the second floor of the building.
Now, a report from the House Task Force investigating the Trump assassination attempts implicates yet another agency for the unsecured building: the Pennsylvania State Police, or PSP.
Secret Service and local law enforcement have repeatedly blamed each other for failing to secure the AGR building.
Now, today's report from the Trump Shooting Task Force implicates yet another agency: the Pennsylvania State Police. pic.twitter.com/Djv6trvCoS— Ken Silva (@JD_Cashless) October 21, 2024
The House Task Force’s report, which was released Monday, states that the PSP told the committee that it thought the Secret Service was responsible for the AGR building.
“According to the Secret Service, however, [PSP Lt. John] Herold advised the USSS on July 9 that PSP had already spoken to the owner of the AGR property and ‘coordinated it to be closed, locked, and posted,’” the House Task Force report said, citing internal Secret Service records that were provided to the committee.
The Secret Service’s implication of PSP should perhaps be taken with a grain of salt, given the inaccurate information that has already come from that agency. However, the House Task Force report further revealed that the Butler County Sheriff’s Office also apparently thought the PSP was responsible for the AGR building.
“For instance, before the rally started, Butler County Sheriff’s Office (CSO) Witness 1 expressed concern to Butler CSO Witness 3 about the fact that the AGR complex was outside the USSS secure perimeter, with no law enforcement on or near the building, to which Butler CSO Witness 3 responded that ‘PSP has that covered,’” the Task Force report stated.
The PSP didn’t immediately respond to a Headline USA email inquiry about the new Task Force report, which comes four days after the DHS released its own “independent” review of the shooting.
The DHS’s 52-page report issued last Thursday took the Secret Service to task for specific problems leading up to the July 13 rally in Butler as a well as deeper one within the agency’s culture. It recommended bringing in new, outside leadership and refocusing on its protective mission.
“Although experience within the Service is laudable and important, and some members of a future leadership team will likely be Secret Service veterans, the events of Butler suggest that there is an urgent need for fresh thinking informed by external experience and perspective,” the panel wrote.
The panel’s recommendations suggest that Secret Service Acting Director Ronald Rowe and other senior officials could be ousted from the agency soon. So far, no agents have been fired over the events of Butler.
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.
