Agents planning a July 13 rally for Donald J. Trump in Butler Township, Pennsylvania, were urged by U.S. Secret Service headquarters not to request additional security for the event, a whistleblower told Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri.
Anne Letter of August 23rd Hawley asked for an explanation from Secret Service Acting Director Ronald L. Rowe Jr., who had previously indicated to Congress that security assets had not been denied at Butler’s events.
“This apparent contradiction must be explained immediately,” Hawley wrote.
A whistleblower “with knowledge of Secret Service planning” for the Butler case said that Pittsburgh field office officials did not ask for more security resources in their personnel requests because “officers in the field had been told not to ask for them in the first place,” Hawley wrote.
“These serious allegations suggest that responsibility for failing to protect the former president extends to the CIA’s highest ranks.”
The senators demanded that Rowe provide his office with a list of which security personnel were excluded from requests for Trump’s rallies and show whether Rowe knew that Secret Service officials had advised the Pittsburgh office to exclude those personnel.
“Importantly, these resources included countersniper teams and Counter Surveillance Division (CSD) personnel,” the letter stated. “According to published reports, the countersniper teams were ultimately approved, but only the day before the incident, insufficient time to conduct a proper on-site assessment.”
According to the whistleblower, advance commanders for “protected person trips” typically submit personnel requests to the local Secret Service field office, which then forwards them to the Office of Protective Operations for final approval.
“Staff from this office allegedly informed the Pittsburgh field office in advance that no additional security resources would be provided for the Butler rally because Mr. Trump is a former president, not a sitting president or vice president,” Hawley wrote.
Hawley, referring to a previous whistleblower, said that counterinsurgency officers “should have handcuffed the shooter in the parking lot after he was spotted with a rangefinder, but were not present that day,” the letter said.
About an hour before opening fire at the rally, the would-be assassin, Thomas Matthew Crooks, was spotted by a local anti-sniper using a rangefinder, a device used to measure the distance to a target in sports and shooting.
The district attorney said the Secret Service was responsible for security failures at Donald J. Trump’s July 13 rally and tried to shift the blame onto local police.
Photo by Javin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images
Crooks shot President Trump in the right ear, killed volunteer firefighter Corey Comperatore, 50, and severely wounded David Duch, 57, and James Copenhaver, 74. Crooks fired eight times before dying from an anti-sniper bullet. Local SWAT officers fired at Crooks from the ground, striking the butt of his rifle, ending Crooks’ shooting.
At a press conference on August 2, Lowe said the counterinsurgency unit was working hard to secure permanent shelter in the capital region, but would be on-site “if requested.”
“I understand there are allegations that I personally made cuts or that I, um, denied requests,” Rowe said. “The Countersurveillance Division has assisted with providing security for the former president at some very high profile events, and they continue to provide that assistance and still do.”
Hawley said the new allegations “suggest that CSD personnel, anti-sniper teams and other key security assets were not included in personnel requests for Butler’s trips because Secret Service officials told the requesting agents they would be denied.”
Hawley said Governor Rowe’s decision July 13 to place five investigators at the scene on administrative leave was an inadequate response to the tragedy.
“These serious allegations demonstrate that the failure to protect a former president extends to the CIA’s top officials,” he said.
Hawley has filed multiple whistleblower complaints in writing with Secret Service and Department of Homeland Security officials since the shooting.
Hawley said in July that most of the security at Butler’s event was with Homeland Security Investigations, not the Secret Service, and was “unaware of the standard procedures typically used at these types of events.”
On July 22, someone was assigned to guard the roof from which Crooks launched his attack, but “this individual abandoned his post due to hot weather,” he said.
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