Staff Reports
The attempted assassination of Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, reveals a shocking incompetence that is hard to fathom, even for those used to the blunders of the federal government. Nearly two months have passed since a 20-year-old named Thomas Matthew Crooks attempted to take out the former president from a rooftop that was, for reasons that still escape most rational minds, left unsecured. The roof was a glaring security hole, sitting less than 200 yards from where the rally was taking place. The initial claims by the Secret Service that they avoided the roof because it posed risks to their agents were met with outright ridicule. It’s almost as if the agency thought they could pass off a soft serving of excuses without anyone noticing—spoiler alert: they did notice.
The investigation into this security breach is heating up, and Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat from Connecticut, has promised that a forthcoming report will leave the average American shaken to their core. Based on the senator’s buzzwords about people being “shocked, astonished, and appalled,” this sounds like a sequel to the movie “A Day After Tomorrow,” only it’s the Secret Service that’s facing natural disasters of its own making. Blumenthal didn’t stop at the Secret Service, however; he also brought the Department of Homeland Security into the fray, suggesting they were less than forthcoming. If this isn’t an invitation for a bipartisan roast of federal incompetence, then nothing is.
🚨Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), says forthcoming report on Trump assassination attempt "will absolutely shock the American people."
"I think the American people are going to be shocked, astonished & appalled by what we will report to them about the failures by the Secret… pic.twitter.com/fvyBU6UZMt
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) September 12, 2024
Privacy and communication failures were on full display that day. Reports surfaced indicating that local SWAT teams had eyes on Crooks well before he fired any shots. Still, the Secret Service was eerily uninformed, thanks to being locked out of critical communication channels. This level of ineptitude raises eyebrows and invites a mountain of questions about just how these agencies operate—or misoperate, rather. It’s as though Crooks had a VIP pass while the Secret Service was playing a game of telephone with no clue about who was where.
The incompetence doesn’t end there. The agents assigned to protect Trump were revealed to be woefully unqualified, with many of them being DHS agents who completed a mere webinar on threat assessment. It’s hard to believe they didn’t pop some popcorn and settle in for the full 90 minutes of training. Meanwhile, concerns about inadequate training have been raised within the Secret Service itself. Would anyone else in the world get away with this level of unprofessionalism?
Rumors suggest that Acting Director Ronald Rowe may have been too busy brushing up on his excuses actually to fix the agency’s security protocols. While many in the agency seem to agree that Assistant Director Michael Plati, who oversaw protective operations, was effectively ousted as a scapegoat following this incident, a statement from the Secret Service claims it was Plati’s choice to retire. Sounds like some serious buck-passing is afoot here.
If anyone needed a clearer picture of what’s happening behind the curtain of the supposedly elite Secret Service, this embarrassing saga should fit the bill. Until there’s some accountability for those involved in this utter failure, these federal agencies will continue to operate with the same stonewalling mentality that has now been put on full display for all to see. What a shame.
