Exclusive: PITTSBURGH — A lawyer representing two victims seriously injured in the July 13 assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump said he's “pleased to see some accountability” after Secret Service agents were placed on administrative leave following a shooting that left one man dead.
James Copenhaver (74) and David Duch (57) Both men fired shots twice at the rally.
“I'm pleased that there's been accountability, and I think this is a step in the right direction for the federal government,” attorney Joseph Feldman of the Law Offices of Max C. Feldman told Fox News Digital in response to an earlier Fox report that at least five USSS employees had been placed on administrative leave.
But Feldman added that he and his client don't know “what agents in the Pittsburgh office have to say about their situation.”
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Acting Director of the U.S. Secret Service Ronald Rowe Jr. testifies before a joint hearing of the Senate Judiciary, Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committees at the Dirksen Senator's Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, July 30, 2024. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
One member of President Trump's security team and four Secret Service employees in Pittsburgh, including the special agent in charge, have been placed on administrative leave, meaning they are still employed but are working from home and are no longer permitted to be in the field. They cannot work on any investigative duties.
“There's a whole bunch of statements coming directly from higher-ups. There aren't as many statements from the police officers or Secret Service agents involved in the incident itself,” Feldman said. “Maybe the agents knew what was going on that day, or maybe the reports went up to higher-ups and they said, 'Don't worry.'”
Feldman said more information “will come to light” through an internal Department of Homeland Security investigation into the incident and an external congressional investigation, and that litigation could force government officials to provide more details to the public about what went wrong.
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Feldman reflected on his own time in the US military as he recounted the July 13 assassination attempt on former President Trump and how the gunman, Thomas Crooks, was able to gain access to a nearby rooftop. (Adam Gray for Fox News Digital)
“The US Secret Service's mission assurance review is ongoing and is examining the processes, procedures and factors that led to this failed operation,” USSS Communications Director Anthony Guglielmi said in a statement.
“The U.S. Secret Service holds its employees to the highest professional standards, and any identified and substantiated violations of the policy will be investigated by the Office of Professional Ethics and may result in disciplinary action. As this is a personnel matter, we are not in a position to comment further.”
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Secret Service agents assist former Republican presidential candidate Trump on the podium at a rally. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
The House task force has investigated how 20-year-old Crooks Climb HVAC equipment and ductwork He went to the roof of the AGR building and hid there until firing began at about 6:11 pm.
The FBI said at a July press conference that Crooks was carrying a DPMS AR-15-style gun with a folding stock when he entered the Butler Farm Show, where Trump was holding a campaign rally.
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Thomas Matthew Crooks crawls across a rooftop moments before attempting to assassinate former President Trump. (DJ Laughery. Insert image: via Fox News Digital)
The Trump campaign announced the Butler rally on July 3. Crooks signed up for the rally three days later, on July 6, the same day he investigated how far Lee Harvey Oswald was from President Kennedy when he assassinated him in 1963. According to the FBI, Crooks went to the rally site on July 7 and spent about 20 minutes in the area.
Crooks began taking shooting lessons in 2023 and made 25 online purchases of gun-related items using a false name in the spring of 2023. The AR-15-style rifle that Crooks used at the rally was legally purchased by his father and legally transferred to his son, according to the complaint.
Trump assassin spotted wandering around Pennsylvania rally hours before shooting
Police officers surround Thomas Crooks on the roof of the AGR after an anti-sniper shot him dead. (Butler County Police Department)
Rally attendees previously told Fox News Digital that people were pointing at a person on the roof of AGR before the shooting began. Video shared exclusively with Fox News Digital from Copenhaver's vantage point at the rally shows what appears to be a person walking across the roof of the AGR building just three minutes before Crooks began firing.
“How can you get on a roof in a field with people screaming that someone is on the roof and a sniper next to you, and not see that person until you fire the first shot? That's their job. That's why they're there.”
“The Secret Service is not there to listen to Donald Trump's speeches or immigration statistics.”
According to Congress and the FBI, authorities first reported seeing a suspicious person near the rally at least an hour before Crooks began shooting. Local police notified command and received confirmation that the Secret Service was aware of the suspicious person's presence.
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It remains unclear how Crooks managed to evade police security, despite being spotted by them more than an hour before shots rang out. Trump took the podium at about 6pm, an hour after he was scheduled to speak.
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11 minutes later, The crook fired multiple bullets.Corey Comperatore, 50, is a husband and father of two daughters who served as fire chief for the Buffalo Township Fire Department.
FBI officials said they were investigating whether Crooks had a motive for the assassination attempt and whether he had any co-conspirators, but said they had no evidence to suggest anyone else was involved.
Fox News' David Spunt and Jake Gibson contributed to this report.
