A new report has revealed that the US Secret Service is responsible for security failures during the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania on July 13, which left one person dead and several others injured.
The agency’s internal review on Friday found that agents had been negligent in using technology that could have identified the attacker when he flew a drone over the rally site hours before the incident, according to news agency Xinhua.
The report highlights failures of the Secret Service’s advance team and its coordination with state and local law enforcement before the attack. The Secret Service, responsible for overseeing Trump’s security, failed to instruct local police snipers to secure a nearby rooftop.
Former Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle, who resigned amid widespread outrage over the agency’s failure to prevent the incident, was asked by several lawmakers at an earlier congressional hearing why the agency failed to secure the roof.
In a news briefing on Friday, acting director Ronald Rowe highlighted a “lack of clarity” from the Secret Service in security planning for Trump’s rally.
At the rally, shortly before shots were fired into the crowd, some people saw a suspicious man climbing onto the roof and notified local police, but Trump’s security personnel had no information that police were searching for the suspect.
Secret Service agents and local law enforcement agencies operated on separate radio frequencies and were stationed in different locations, hampering their ability to quickly share information.
“It’s important that we hold ourselves accountable for the failures of July 13, and use the lessons learned to ensure we never have a similar failure again,” Rowe said.
Following the attempted assassination of Trump in Pennsylvania, the Secret Service allocated additional resources not normally provided to someone in Trump’s position.
On Sunday, a man was arrested after a Secret Service agent spotted a rifle barrel protruding from a fence at the Trump International Golf Club in South Florida and “fought off” him. Trump was unharmed in the incident, which appears to be the second assassination attempt in about two months.
Just days after a second assassination attempt, the US House of Representatives on Friday unanimously approved a bill aimed at enhancing Secret Service protection for presidential candidates and their vice-presidential candidates.
Under the bill, the Secret Service would be required to “apply uniform standards in determining the number of agents needed to protect the President, Vice President, and key presidential and vice presidential candidates.”
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