Washington — A Secret Service assessment of the failures that led to the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump at a campaign rally on July 13 found that there were multiple communications issues with law enforcement at the site, the agency’s interim leader said Friday.
Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe detailed to reporters the findings of the agency’s “mission assurance review,” which he said is nearing its end.
“We need a shift in paradigm in how we conduct our protective operations,” he said. “The threat level is evolving and requires this paradigm shift.”
Rowe detailed the timeline leading up to when gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire at the rally, wounding Trump and two others and killing one attendee.
He said the Secret Service didn’t provide clear guidance or direction to local and state law enforcement partners, who were on hand to assist the agency at the rally. Rowe also said there were “communications deficiencies” with officers at the site, including an “over reliance” on mobile devices that led to information being siloed.
Trump was shot in the ear when Crooks fired eight shots from the roof of a building during his campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13. A Secret Service sniper shot and killed the Crooks, 20, after he opened fire.
The assassination attempt sparked immense criticism of the Secret Service and questions about how Crooks was able to gain access to the rooftop so close to where Trump was speaking. The Secret Service director at the time of the shooting, Kimberly Cheatle, resigned in its wake, and Rowe was installed as its acting leader.
A bipartisan congressional task force is also investigating the shooting.
Scrutiny of the former president’s protection heightened again this week after law enforcement arrested Ryan Wesley Routh after he was allegedly waiting with a high-powered rifle in the tree line of Trump’s South Florida golf course on Sunday. Officials said the suspect had an AK-47-style rifle and was between 300 to 500 yards from Trump, who was golfing, when a Secret Service agent spotted the gun and opened fire.
Officials said they found the rifle, a scope, two backpacks with ceramic tile and a GoPro camera in the bushes outside of the golf course. An FBI affidavit said that data obtained from Routh’s cellphone provider showed his phone was in the area along the tree line at Trump International Golf Course for roughly 12 hours before he was spotted.
The Secret Service said the suspect didn’t have a line of sight to Trump and was several holes ahead of the former president.
Law enforcement are treating the incident as an attempted assassination of Trump, the Republican presidential nominee. While the Secret Service engaged with the suspect, its acting director said Routh did not fire any shots.
Rowe on Friday praised the agent who identified the suspect with a long gun and took “swift action” to mitigate the threat.
“No shots were fired at the former president. The former president wasn’t exposed to where he was on the golf course,” he said. “The procedures work, the redundancies work, so that high level of protection is working.”