Butler, Pennsylvania – Experts say a lack of communication between local and federal police contributed to the mounting security failures that led to the assassination attempt on former President Trump.
About 90 minutes after police found the would-be assassin, Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, who evaded police and climbed to a rooftop where he had a direct view of the former president, Crooks opened fire at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, hitting Trump in the ear, killing one audience member and critically wounding two others.
Text messages showed that local police officers shared information with each other as Crooks attracted their attention before the shooting, but Secret Service Acting Director Ronald Rowe Jr. testified at a joint Senate oversight hearing on Tuesday that no information about Crooks was passed by local police to federal officers.
“On the surface, it seems like a clear failure of communications,” Michael Virden, a former Secret Service agent and founder of security firm Lake Forest Group, told Fox News Digital. “I’ve done these events with presidents, and you need a strong, seamless communications plan.”
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Sniper photograph of Thomas Matthew Crooks. (Senator Ron Johnson’s Office)
The communications breakdown became apparent when local police officers revealed through text messages that they had spotted Crooks and reported him as suspicious 90 minutes before the shooting, and despite sending his photo to command, the would-be assassin evaded capture.
“Those with authority at that gathering should talk to each other,” Baden said. “Butler County and the Secret Service should have talked to each other.”
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“They didn’t have what we call a joint command center,” Velden said, “where they could have brought together state, local and federal representatives to share with them what the people on the ground were facing.”
All roads lead to communication.
“All roads lead to communication,” he said.
Local police body camera footage shows agency chaos in the aftermath of the attempted assassination of former President Trump on Saturday, July 13, 2024, in Butler, Pennsylvania. (U.S. Secret Service)
Velden expressed surprise that no one approached Crooks, who was stationed at the American Glass Research building before the shooting. The former Secret Service officer said the agency has a unit that deals with “exactly this scenario.”
“We have a defense intelligence team and typically Secret Service agents and local law enforcement officers working together,” he said.
“They’re there for one reason only – to get close to all the suspicious people,” he said.
“I’m sure there was a defense intelligence team there guiding the team,” he said. “If there wasn’t, that’s a huge discrepancy.”
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Police officers stand near the body of Thomas Crooks, the man who attempted to assassinate President Trump, on Saturday, July 13, 2024. (Todd the Driller)
Charles Marino, a former senior Secret Service special agent and senior adviser to the Department of Homeland Security, told Fox News Digital that the events of July 13 highlighted “both the worst and the best of the agency.”
“There were catastrophic failures in overall security planning and execution leading up to this fateful day, which will ultimately expose further cracks in the areas of agency communication, coordination and overall strained and limited resources,” he said.
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Marino said the courageous actions shown by agents in the aftermath of the shooting show why the Secret Service is “worth improving.”
“The Butler incident represents one of the worst-case scenarios for the Secret Service, but in response to the failure of the moving forward process, the Secret Service’s best talent has been called in as a last line of defense,” he said.
“The selfless courage and determination shown by the Secret Service agents who responded immediately to the sound of gunfire and put their own bodies on the line to protect former President Trump as gunfire continued, along with the actions and skills of the Secret Service’s counter-sniper forces, are reasons why the Secret Service is worthy of improvement and an undeniable dedication to the mission, the people and the country they protect.”
