Secret Service lapses in Trump assassination attempt 'preventable': Senate probe

The investigation also highlighted the absence of a chain of command amongst the Secret Service agents and other agencies responsible for the safety of the Republican presidential nominee who was campaigning in Butler, Pennsylvania, when a bullet grazed his ear, killing another in the crowd on July 13.

In Short

• Multiple levels of failures were identified, including planning and communication
• Local police alert was not relayed in time, shooter fired 22 seconds later
• Debate has arisen on funding Secret Service after recent events

A bipartisan senate investigation into the unsuccessful assassination attempt on Donald Trump concluded on Wednesday, September 25 that the multiple failures on behalf of the Secret Service to prevent such an event were "foreseeable, preventable, and directly related to the events resulting in the assassination attempt that day".

The findings of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee were in line with the Secret Service’s own internal investigation and the ongoing probe by the House of Representatives. The investigation found multiple failures on almost every level, The Associated Press (AP) reported, from planning and communication to security and allocation of resources.

"The consequences of those failures were dire," Michigan Senator Gary Peters, the Democratic chairman of the committee told AP.

The investigation also highlighted the absence of a chain of command amongst the Secret Service agents and other agencies responsible for the safety of the Republican presidential nominee who was campaigning in Butler, Pennsylvania, when a bullet grazed his ear, killing another in the crowd on July 13.

There was also no plan to cover building roofs from where the shooter took the shot. Agents were on separate radio channels, leading to miscommunications and the drone operator was distracted on a helpline after his equipment stopped working, AP reported.

Communications amongst security officials were a “multistep game of telephone," Peters said.

A local police officer sent an alert about an armed individual on the building’s roof, approximately 22 seconds before Thomas Crooks, the shooter, took aim and fired the shot, the investigation found. The agents interviewed by the committee admitted that the information was not relayed in time.

The investigation report came just days after the Secret Service concluded its investigation and ahead of a hearing in front of a bipartisan House panel on Thursday, September 26. The House panel is also investigating the second attempt on the former president’s life in Florida on September 15.

In light of these recent events, disagreements have arisen between the two American parties on whether to endow more money to the Secret Service. A spending bill which was on track to pass before the month’s end, giving $231 million to the security agency, is now a topic of debate, with Republican leaders demanding a complete internal overhaul.

“This is a management problem plain and simple,” said Republican Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, the top Republican on the Homeland Security panel's investigations subcommittee.