US Secret Service accepts responsibility for failure to protect Trump

Washington: The United States Service has owned its failure to protect former president Donald Trump at an election rally in Pennsylvania on July 13.

A young gunman shot at Trump, 78, when he was addressing an election rally in Butler. Trump escaped the assassination attempt, as a bullet flew within a millimetre of him and one of them hit his right ear.

“The Secret Service takes full responsibility for the tragic events of July 13th. This was a mission failure. The sole responsibility of our agency is to make sure our protectees are never put in danger. We fell short of that in Butler. And I'm working to make sure that this failure does not happen again,” Acting Director of the US Secret Service, Ronald Rowe, told reporters at a news conference here.

The main role of Secret Service is to protect the President, the former presidents and their family members. Presidential nominees also get protection of the secret service.

Rowe said that the Secret Service will continue to cooperate with pending oversight investigations of the July 13 failure being done now by Congress, the Department of Homeland Security's Office of the Inspector General, and the independent review directed by President Joe Biden.

“I am not waiting for the completion of those reports, and I've directed the Secret Service to take immediate steps to ensure our protectees are indeed safe. I am committed to pursuing accountability for the Secret Service's failure in Butler, Pennsylvania.

“But let me be clear. If policy violations by Secret Service personnel are identified by the agency's Mission Assurance Review, those individuals will be held accountable. They will be held accountable to our fair and thorough disciplinary process,” he said.

Giving the sequence of events of July 13, Rowe said at 5.30 pm, Trump arrived at the campaign rally via Secret Service motorcade, and at that time, he met with supporters in a secure backstage area within the protective site.

At 5.45 pm, a local Butler County Emergency Services Unit counter sniper team member texted the Secret Service counter sniper team leader about a suspicious person and sent two photos of the individual, later identified as the assailant.

At 5.53 pm, the Secret Service counter sniper team leader texted the Secret Service counter sniper teams that local law enforcement was looking for a suspicious individual outside of the perimeter lurking around the AGR building.

At this time, Secret Service personnel were operating with the knowledge that local law enforcement was working on an issue of a suspicious individual.

At 6 pm, former President Trump took the stage to begin remarks.

“Based on what I know right now, neither the Secret Service counter-sniper teams nor members of the former president's security detail had any knowledge that there was a man on the roof of the AGR building with a firearm. It is my understanding that personnel were not aware the assailant had a firearm until they heard gunshots,” he said.

“At 6.11 pm, a member of the former President Trump's protective detail contacted their Pittsburgh field office counterpart to inquire about the radio update that there was an issue local law enforcement was looking into near the perimeter.

“At 6.11 pm, the assailant's first volley of three shots was fired, and within three seconds, the former president's detail rushed the stage and covered Trump, shielding him with their own bodies,” Rowe said giving the timeline of the failed assassination bid on July 13.

“The fourth-through-eight shots took place over the next several seconds. Fifteen and a half seconds after the assailant's first shot, a Secret Service counter sniper fired a single round that neutralised the assailant,” he said.

Rowe told reporters that this was a failure.

“We should have had better protection for the protectee. We should have had better coverage on that roof line. We should have had at least some other set of eyes from the Secret Service point of view covering that. That building was very close to that outer perimeter, and we should have had more of a presence,” he said.

“This was a Secret Service failure. That roof line should have been covered. We should have had better eyes on that,” he added.