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Fox News
3 days ago
- Politics
- Fox News
Secret Service changes the agency has made post-Trump Butler assassination attempt
The Secret Service has ushered in a series of changes to beef up its security measures in the aftermath of the July 2024 assassination attempt against President Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania – including suspending six of its agents due to their response to the crisis. Secret Service Deputy Director Matt Quinn disclosed the suspensions Wednesday in an interview with CBS News, and said the consequences ranged from 10 days to 42 days of unpaid leave. Additionally, he said the agents would return to restricted roles following the suspension, and said the agency was "laser focused on fixing the root cause of the problem." "Secret Service is totally accountable for Butler," Quinn told CBS. "Butler was an operational failure and we are focused today on ensuring that it never happens again." The Secret Service confirmed to Fox News that the suspensions went into effect in February and that no agents had been fired. The agency faced harsh scrutiny in the aftermath of the ambush, where 20-year-old gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks fired eight bullets at Trump from a rooftop during a campaign rally on July 13, 2024. A bullet grazed Trump's ear, and the gunman killed Corey Comperatore, a 50-year-old firefighter, father and husband attending the rally. A Secret Service sniper killed Crooks. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. Bill Gage, who served as a Secret Service special agent for former Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, told Fox News Digital that the attempted assassination served as a wake-up call for the agency – bringing about overdue changes to the Secret Service. Specifically, Gage said the incident prompted the Secret Service to "create new divisions, new units to counter modern threats, and gave the agency a real focus." Former Secret Service Acting Director Ronald Rowe told lawmakers on a bipartisan House task force investigating the assassination attempt in December 2024 that the immediate changes to the agency included expanding the use of drones for surveillance purposes, and also incorporating greater counter-drone technology to mitigate kinetic attacks from other drones. Likewise, the agency also overhauled its radio communications networks and interoperability of those networks with Secret Service personnel, and state and local law enforcement officers. Streamlining these radio communications is a major change, according to Gage, who said he sometimes was outfitted with up to five radios because an integrated system didn't exist. Rowe also told lawmakers that the agency is seeking to beef up its staffing, and had assigned more special agents to Trump's security detail. Rowe said the agency was planning to use some of the additional $231 million in funding that Congress approved for the Secret Service in a stopgap spending bill in September 2024 to hire 1,000 new agents and officers in 2025. Other potential changes in the works include constructing a precise replica of the White House, instead of using Tyler Perry's White House replica at his Atlanta film studio as agents historically have done. Secret Service Director Sean Curran said in an April interview with Fox News' "My View with Lara Trump" that the agency is coordinating with the White House to build the replica at the James J. Rowley Training Center in Laurel, Maryland. Gage called it "inexcusable" that a replica of the White House didn't already exist and said even more value should be placed on training. "The service should really focus on training," Gage said. "There needs to be an increased mindset for training, where training is viewed as just as important as your assigned shift."
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Fury at Secret Service for not firing agents after Trump shooting
Six Secret Service agents were briefly suspended for security failures tied to last year's attempted assassination of Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania. The July 13, 2024 attempt on Trump's life came during a rally at the Farm Show Grounds in Butler, where 20-year-old gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks perched atop a building just beyond the perimeter gates. Crooks was able to fire off a series of bullets aimed at Trump's head - one of which grazed his ear - before officers took him down. Deputy Director of the Secret Service Matt Quinn told CBS News that the suspended employees were given penalties ranging from 10 to 42 days of leave. When the suspended employees returned to work, he said, they were given restricted roles with less operational responsibility. 'We are laser focused on fixing the root cause of the problem,' Mr. Quinn said Wednesday, adding that disciplinary act was carried out according to a federally mandated process. But their length of punishment is not sitting right with some of Trump's most ardent supporters. House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer told the Daily Mail in a statement that he was 'glad' to hear that more Secret Service employees are being held accountable. But he says the agency's 'failure' to protect Trump at the Butler campaign rally revealed the 'need for changes at the agency, starting with leadership at the top.' He noted that former Director Kimberly Cheatle was 'forced to resign' and that there should be more accountability to come. Congressman Mike Kelly, who represents the portion of eastern Pennsylvania that includes Butler noted in a statement issued by his office Thursday that he applauds 'efforts to implement transparency and accountability to the Secret Service' and looks forward to working to 'restore the Secret Service as the elite law enforcement agency in the country.' Kelly also chaired the Task Force on the Attempted Assassination of Donald J. Trump, leading its efforts from July to December of last year. Social media users were less measured in their response to the news. X user @The_FJC wrote 'It just came out that the Secret Service agents whose actions almost got Trump killed in Butler, PA, were only suspended for 10 to 42 days without pay. Their Actions Almost Got Their Protectee Killed, Others Were, And Thats IT? They were put back on the job. Seriously? [Expletive]!' Another user, @pitbullpatriot3, noted that none of the agents involved with the 'failures' had been fired. 'It's been a year since Trump's assassination attempt and just now 6 Secret Service agents have been suspended because of that day!' 'Not fired, just suspended! So when you find yourself asking why do these things keep happening, this is why!' At the time of the incident, Secret Service blamed local police for failing to secure the rooftop from which Crooks attempted to assassinate former President Donald Trump, insisting it was outside the perimeter the federal agency was tasked with protecting. Instead, securing and patrolling the factory grounds of AGR International Inc. — located about 150 yards from the stage where Trump was speaking Saturday — was the responsibility of local Pennsylvania police, Secret Service representative Anthony Gugliemi said, according to the New York Times. The Secret Service was only tasked with covering the grounds where Trump's rally took place, with local police being recruited to assist with those efforts and secure the area outside the rally. Now-former Secret Service director Kimberly Cheatle resigned last July shortly after the assassination attempt. Two days after the incident, Cheatle noted in a media release issued by the Secret Service that 'personnel on the ground moved quickly during the incident, with our counter sniper team neutralizing the shooter and our agents implementing protective measures to ensure the safety of [then]former president Donald Trump.' A U.S. Secret Service report released just days before the 2024 election confirmed that 'multiple operational and communications gaps preceded the July 13 attempted assassination.' The Secret Service also described some of the gaps as 'deficiency of established command and control, lapses in communication, and a lack of diligence by agency personnel,' while also noting that 'the accountability process [was] underway.'
ABC News
3 days ago
- Politics
- ABC News
Secret Service staff suspended over attempted Trump assassination, US media reports
Almost a year has passed since Donald Trump stepped on stage at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, and a would-be assassin's bullet skimmed his ear. In an instant, the then US-presidential candidate went from revving up the crowd to being hauled to the ground by the Secret Service. Now, more details have emerged around the fallout of the near-fatal incident. In an interview with CBS News, Secret Service deputy director Matt Quinn revealed six Secret Service personnel were suspended for weeks without pay following the close call. Mr Quinn — who was appointed to the job in May — called the July 13, 2024 assassination attempt an "operational failure" but said no agent would be facing termination. The FBI identified Thomas Matthew Crooks as the shooter behind the attack at the Pennsylvania rally, which injured the former president and left a 50-year-old volunteer firefighter dead. Two others were also left injured. Crooks carried out the attack from a rooftop of a nearby building and was killed by Secret Service snipers shortly after he opened fire. Crooks was not under FBI surveillance or investigation prior to the attack. "Secret Service is totally accountable for Butler," Mr Quinn told CBS News. The Secret Service is part of the US Department of Homeland Security and protects US political leaders, their families and visiting dignitaries. Mr Quinn told CBS News six Secret Service personnel were suspended without pay for up to six weeks following the shooting. The agents were then placed into restricted duty roles with less operational duties, however it remains unclear if these agents returned to their previous roles. Mr Quinn told CBS News the agency would not be terminating employees. "We aren't going to fire our way out of this," Mr Quinn said. "We're going to focus on the root cause and fix the deficiencies that put us in that situation." Mr Quinn said the Secret Service has introduced a new fleet of military-grade drones and new mobile command posts, which will allow agents to communicate over radio with local law enforcement. "We are laser-focused on fixing the root cause of the problem," Mr Quinn said. The Secret Service faced significant criticism following the shooting, with then-director Kimberly Cheatle resigning within the fortnight. Ms Cheatle was subpoenaed to appear at a US congressional oversight hearing where several committee members questioned her about security decisions surrounding the Pennsylvania rally and called on her to step down. She told the hearing that the incident was the agency's "most significant operational failure" in decades, adding that she took "full responsibility". An independent review found the Secret Service displayed a lack of critical thinking before and after the assassination attempt on Mr Trump. The 51-page report outlined multiple communications breakdowns and accused the organisation of becoming "bureaucratic, complacent and static" even as risks and technology evolved.
BBC News
4 days ago
- Politics
- BBC News
Secret Service suspended staff for failings over Trump assassination attempt
The US Secret Service issued suspensions for six personnel over failings at one of Donald Trump's rallies last year, during which a gunman attempted to assassinate the Republican, an official has Quinn, the service's deputy director, told the BBC's US partner CBS News that the gathering in Butler, Pennsylvania, when Matthew Crooks fired at Trump and killed another attendee, was an "operational failure".One of Crooks's bullets grazed the ear of Trump, who was then rushed to safety. The attacker was shot is not clear when the staff suspensions were formally issued, and US media reports differ on whether or not they have already been served. Speaking to CBS, Quinn said the staff were given penalties ranging from 10 to 42 days of leave without pay or benefits."Secret Service is totally accountable for Butler," he explained. "Butler was an operational failure and we are focused today on ensuring that it never happens again."Quinn, who was appointed to his role in May this year, added that he was "laser-focused on fixing the root cause of the problem", but his organisation would not "fire our way out of this".Quinn told CBS a number of improvements had already been made, involving military-grade drones and improved mobile command posts that could now be used by agents in the identities of the suspended staff and their roles on the day of the attack have not been disclosed. Gary O'Donoghue: What I witnessed at Trump rallyReport identifies 'litany' of failures by Secret ServiceWife of man killed at Trump rally struggles with loss The news comes just days before the anniversary of the attack on 13 July 2024. Rally attendee Corey Comperatore was killed and two other people incident prompted the resignation of the service's then-director, Kimberly Secret Service has been under intense scrutiny for the last 12 months, and has faced sharp criticism from US Congress September, a 94-page Senate report found that security failures and lack of communication within the US Secret Service "directly contributed" to the incident, and that many issues remained unaddressed two months attack was also described as preventable in another report, published in December, by a House of Representatives taskforce. That paper identified the main lapse as being a failure to secure the rooftop from which Crooks opened who was successfully re-elected in November, was provided with heightened security in the aftermath of the attack - ensuring that he received protection at a level above what is typical for a presidential September, he was again rushed to safety by Secret Service agents after a second would-be gunman lurked in bushes at Trump's golf course in Florida. The FBI described this, too, as an apparent assassination attempt. The suspect in that second incident was detained.
Fox News
4 days ago
- Politics
- Fox News
Secret Service suspends 6 agents tasked with protecting Trump during July 2024 assassination attempt
Six Secret Service agents were suspended without pay or benefits following a gunman's attempt to take President Donald Trump's life at a Pennsylvania rally last July. Matt Quinn, the agency's deputy director, told CBS News on Wednesday that they "weren't going to fire [their] way out of this," but did say they are "laser focused on fixing the root cause of the problem." Quinn told the outlet that the agents' penalty ranged from 10 to 42 days of unpaid leave, adding that they were placed in restricted roles with less responsibility once they returned to the job. He said the disciplinary actions were in accordance with a federally mandated process. Fox News Digital reached out to the Secret Service for independent confirmation, but did not hear back by the time of publication. The agency faced heavy criticism following the security failure, which allowed gunman Thomas Crooks to open fire toward the rally's stage in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 2024. Corey Comperatore, a 50-year-old firefighter, father and husband attending the rally, was killed while Trump's ear was grazed by a bullet and two other men were injured by gunfire. Crooks was killed by a Secret Service sniper. "Secret Service is totally accountable for Butler," Quinn said to CBS. "Butler was an operational failure and we are focused today on ensuring that it never happens again." He also said the agency is focusing on the "root cause" of the operational failure and fixing "the deficiencies that put us in that situation." Since the Butler rally, Quinn said the Secret Service has introduced a new fleet of military-grade drones and mobile command posts to improve radio communications with local law enforcement. The agency faced more criticism weeks later when a second assassination attempt on Trump took place in West Palm Beach, Florida. Though it was stopped, then-Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned and the agency underwent several investigations and congressional hearings. A bipartisan House task force released a 180-page report in December stating that the incident in Butler was "preventable," citing "preexisting" leadership and training issues that "created an environment" where security failures were possible. In the report, lawmakers also pointed out that the Secret Service did not coordinate or plan well with local law enforcement.
