Staff Reports
A bipartisan Senate report has shed light on the absolute circus that was the U.S. Secret Service’s handling of the ill-fated assassination plot against former President Trump at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. It’s almost hard to believe how this could all go so wrong, but if there’s one thing this report confirms, it’s that bureaucratic blunders can outdo even the most fantastical Hollywood scripts.
First off, it turns out that the Secret Service may as well have been using a flip phone instead of state-of-the-art technology. The report reveals that the drone detection operator was on the line with customer service—trying to troubleshoot the drone detection system—while the plot unfolded. Yes, this agent, with more experience playing Candy Crush than operating drone defense systems, was more concerned about his tech support call than spotting an incoming drone. Talk about having their priorities straight!
Six most shocking revelations in Senate report on Secret Service's handling of first Trump shooting: USSS sniper team leader warned counter snipers by email, not radio communications, about Crooks lurking with a rangefinder and did not urge… https://t.co/KioZuT3Y7W #BreakingNews pic.twitter.com/CF2dPaAwDc
— ZBreakingNewz (@ZBreakingNewz) September 25, 2024
Then there’s the eyebrow-raising choice of communication within the Secret Service itself. A Counter Sniper Team Leader decided that firing off an email was the best way to warn fellow agents about a suspicious character lurking with a rangefinder. Who needs real-time alerts when you can hit send on an email? Apparently, not alerting Trump’s protective detail was just part of the plan, because why bother moving the man out of harm’s way when you can play the waiting game instead?
Adding insult to injury, one of the snipers noticed local law enforcement rushing toward the threat but thought it would be a great idea to keep that information to himself. Who wouldn’t want the former President to remain blissfully unaware while officers with their weapons drawn were moving in? It’s all very “let’s get a front-row seat to disaster” kind of thinking; just another day in the life of the Secret Service, right?
As if that weren’t enough, the report indicates that credible intelligence about a threat was known prior to the rally, yet someone decided it would be a good idea to claim in the security planning document that there was “no adverse intelligence.” With the way these guys were operating, they could have written a horror film titled “When Bureaucracy Blocks Common Sense.” The only thing more shocking than the convoluted security planning is the blatant disregard for actual risks.
Finally, the report concludes that the Secret Service simply dropped the ball on resource allocation. Requests for additional security resources were denied, leaving local law enforcement scrambling with less support than a one-legged chair at a barbecue. It’s clear that instead of preparing for potential threats, the Secret Service was just working on their email etiquette and trying to figure out which buttons to press on their gear. Who knew protecting a former President would require more competency than a basic tech support job? It certainly puts a new spin on Secret Service “protection.”
