Secret Service officials came to know about a threat to Donald Trump’s life days before the Republican leader was targeted in an assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, according to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report. The report was requested and shared by senator Chuck Grassley of Trump’s Republican Party, ahead of the first anniversary (July 13) of gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks, who was eliminated by Secret Service snipers moments after he fired shots at Trump.“Senior-level Secret Service officials became aware of a threat to then-former President Trump. This information was not specific to the July 13 rally or gunman,” it noted, adding that the agents on the ground, as well as local law enforcement, were left unaware due to the agency’s “siloed practice for sharing classified threat information.”
Chuck Grassley post
“Making changes to Secret Service policies to require it to proactively share threat information internally could help ensure its agents and partners will have information needed to provide effective protection,” the GAO recommended.In a statement accompanying the report, Grassley said the agency’s failures were the result of “a series of bad decisions and bureaucratic handicaps.”“The Secret Service’s failure was the culmination of years of mismanagement and came after the Biden administration denied requests for enhanced security to protect President Trump. Americans should be grateful that President Trump survived that day and was ultimately re-elected to restore common sense to our country,” he stated.The report also noted that several Secret Service officers experienced limited cellphone service during the rally, which may have impacted their ability to communicate effectively in real time.The attack killed one person – attendee Corey Comperatore – and injured two others, while Trump was grazed by a bullet. At the time, he was the Republican Party’s presumptive nominee for the November presidential polls; he would go on to clinch the nomination, and defeated the then-Vice President Kamala Harris to complete a remarkable return to the White House for a second and final term, four years after losing as the incumbent president to Joe Biden.Meanwhile, Grassley further highlighted a $1.17 billion allocation to the Secret Service as part of the newly passed One Big Beautiful Bill Act, saying it would be used to address the agency’s shortcomings.“I’m hopeful this significant injection of resources will go a long way in bringing the agency up to speed,” he added.Earlier, six agents were suspended for security failures linked to the assassination attempt. The suspensions, ranging from 10 to 42 days, involved personnel from both supervisory and line agent levels, according to deputy director Matt Quinn.
