The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committees released an initial, bipartisan report Wednesday morning detailing a number of failures by the Secret Service before and during the attempted assassination against former President Donald Trump on July 13.
In it, lawmakers reveal a number of missteps and highlight fatal incompetence -- including an inability to conduct basic communication.
"Several USSS officials reported experiencing technical problems with their radios at the rally, and told the Committee such problems are common for USSS," the report states.
Further, while attempted assassin Thomas Crooks was able to get his own drone up in the sky to surveil the area, Secret Service didn't have a working version of their own and an inexperience agent was handling the inoperable agency drone.
"That day, he [Crooks] was able to fly a drone 200 yards from the site, use a rangefinder capable of gauging the distance to the former president less than an hour before he began speaking, and bring two explosive devices within proximity of the site of the rally," the report continues. "USSS’ C-UAS system experienced technical problems and was inoperable until 4:33 pm, after Crooks flew his drone near the rally site. With no backup system, the USSS agent responsible for overseeing the C-UAS capabilities at the July 13 rally called a toll-free 888 tech support hotline 'to start troubleshooting with the company,' which took several hours. That agent had only three months of experience working with that equipment and lacked knowledge about it."
Today's @HSGAC_GOP report on the Butler, PA, assassination attempt exposed the severe communication failures and multiple operational breakdowns within the Secret Service.
— Dr. Roger Marshall (@RogerMarshallMD) September 25, 2024
After 74 days, there has been no accountability—we need immediate top-down reforms. pic.twitter.com/2V0D5Jlssz