Senate Panel Cites Secret Service Lapses in Trump Rally Shooting

Donald Trump is surrounded by Secret Service agents following an assassination attempt during a campaign event in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 2024. 

Photographer: Joe Appel/Bloomberg

A “cascade of preventable failures” within the US Secret Service nearly cost President Donald Trump his life during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania last year, according to a Senate committee report released Sunday.

The Republican-led Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, which oversees the Secret Service, found that a series of lapses in planning, communication and coordination allowed 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks to climb undetected onto a rooftop overlooking the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, and open fire on July 13, 2024.