Secret Service Was Told Local Police Lacked Manpower to Secure Building Used by Trump Shooter

The site during the police investigation into gunfire at a campaign rally of Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump, in Butler, Pa., on July 14, 2024. (Carlos Osorio/Reuters)

A Butler County official said on Wednesday that local authorities had informed the U.S. Secret Service that local police lacked the manpower to help secure the building used by the shooter who attempted to assassinate former President Donald Trump last weekend.

The Secret Service “was informed that the local police department did not have manpower to assist with securing that building,” Butler County District Attorney Richard Goldinger told The Washington Post,

Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi confirmed this account to the outlet and provided additional details. He said that stationing a patrol car and an officer outside of the building was part of the agency’s advanced security planning proposal.

Local police stationed inside the building called in reports of a suspicious person with a golf range finder and backpack and sent a photograph of him to the Secret Service team around 20 to 30 minutes before the shooting, Mr. Guglielmi said.

The Agr International building has a large roof, slightly sloped, which provided an unimpeded view of where former President Trump stood at the podium to speak to rallygoers, less than 150 yards away.

Butler County is the town where former President Trump held his campaign rally on Saturday, when 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, climbed onto the roof of the Agr International building just outside the security perimeter and fired multiple shots. His bullets grazed the Republican presidential candidate’s ear, killed one rallygoer, and injured two more before Secret Service agents killed Mr. Crooks in a swift response.

Mr. Goldinger also exclusively told The New York Times that a local officer fired upon Mr. Crooks, whose identity has been revealed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). “Our guys did engage him,” Mr. Goldinger said.

Butler County provided four sniper teams, four fast-response teams, and officers to help the Secret Service at the July 13 rally. They were deployed near a barn near the rally.

In the aftermath of the shooting, videos emerged showing people spotting the shooter on the roof and alerting authorities.

Butler County Sheriff Michael Slupe told Reuters that an officer was hoisted to the roof by his partner, but dropped back down when the shooter aimed his rifle at the officer, who was gripping the edge of the roof and could not access his service weapon under the circumstances. After that, Mr. Crooks quickly fired at former President Trump who was speaking to rally attendees around 400 feet away.

Secret Service ‘Solely Responsible’ for Overall Security

Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle said the Secret Service decided to keep officers off the sloped roof because the incline presented a safety issue.

“The decision was made to secure the building from inside,” Ms. Cheatle told ABC News on July 17.

In another interview with CNN, Ms. Cheatle said that her agency was solely responsible for security plans at the rally and took full responsibility for the attack. She previously said that as part of the plans, local law enforcement had been tasked with securing the area where the shooter climbed onto the building roof to shoot the former president.

Ms. Cheatle said that while local law enforcement provided support, the Secret Service was responsible for the event’s overall security.

“Secret Service respects local law enforcement, and we could not do our job, either investigatively or on our protective mission, without them,” she said.

“At that particular site, we divided up areas of responsibility,” she added, “but the Secret Service is solely responsible for the design and the implementation and the execution of the site, and that’s what I was trying to stress, was that we just divided up areas of responsibility, and they provided support to those areas of responsibility.”

The head of the Secret Service also confirmed that no agents had been swapped out from former President Trump’s security detail to join the Secret Service team that was assigned to protect the first lady in Pittsburgh and other protectees, including Vice President Kamala Harris.

“There were no assets from the Secret Service that were diverted at all,” she said.

Despite reports of a credible threat from Tehran-backed actors, Ms. Cheatle, who declined to “get into the specifics of any threats,” maintained that appropriate measures were in place.

“What we increased was what we felt was appropriate for the former president and for that particular event on that day,” she said.

U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle is seen in a file photo. (Kamil Krzaczynski/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images)

Ms. Cheatle told reporters that the Secret Service has continued to increase its resources for the former president ahead of the November elections. “That’s what I can tell you,” she said.

Federal Probes

Federal authorities have launched multiple investigations into the Secret Service security failure—which has been deemed the most serious since the 1981 assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan.

The FBI is heading the criminal probe, and President Joe Biden has requested an independent investigation into the shooting and the security measures.

On Wednesday, the Department of Homeland Security’s Inspector General announced an investigation into the Secret Service’s security efforts and counter-sniper team to assess their threat preparation and response. The inspector general is also considering additional reviews of other USSS programs and operations.

Congress has also moved to investigate the security failings. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) announced the formation of a bipartisan task force looking at the attempted assassination and House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) issued a subpoena to Ms. Cheatle on Wednesday.

“Americans demand accountability and transparency regarding the Secret Service’s failures that led to the attempted assassination of President Trump. However, President Biden’s Department of Homeland Security has not provided this,” Mr. Comer said in a statement. “We have numerous questions for Director Cheatle about this significant failure, and she must appear before the House Oversight Committee next week.”

Ms. Cheatle is scheduled to appear in Congress to answer questions on July 22.

Jack Phillips contributed to this report.