US Secret Service probe finds lack of diligence ahead of Trump rally shooting

WASHINGTON - A US Secret Service probe found communication gaps and a lack of diligence ahead of the July attempted assassination of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at a Butler, Pennsylvania, rally.

“There was complacency on the part of” some agents “that led to a breach of security protocols”, acting Secret Service director Ronald Rowe told reporters on Sept 20, adding that agency employees will be held accountable. “These penalties will be administered according to our disciplinary process,” Mr Rowe said, declining to provide specifics.

The assassination attempt against Trump

at the July 13 rally led to widespread criticism of the Secret Service and the resignation of its former director.

Critics raised concerns about how the suspect was

able to gain access to a nearby rooftop

with a direct line of sight to where the former president was speaking.

Mr Rowe defended the Secret Service’s actions in

a separate apparent assassination attempt

against Trump at his Florida golf club on Sept 15. In that case, a Secret Service agent fired at a suspect after spotting a rifle poking through the tree line.

The suspect did not fire a shot and did not have a line of sight to Trump, who was golfing a few hundred metres away.

The suspect, identified as Ryan Routh,

58, fled. He was later arrested and charged with gun offences.

Routh is expected to appear in federal court in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Sept 23.

“It appears that those agents, those supervisors, made swift decisions and made correct decisions,” Mr Rowe said when asked about the Sept 15 attempt.

Trump’s ear was wounded, a rally attendee was killed and two others were wounded in the July shooting. The Secret Service has since said it was “ashamed” of the security lapse.

Mr Rowe said that Trump was getting the same level of protection as President Joe Biden and the Democratic presidential candidate, Vice-President Kamala Harris, his rival in the Nov 5 presidential election.

The Secret Service’s internal investigation identified communication lapses between state and local enforcement. The site in Butler was identified as a security challenge by the Secret Service, but measures designed to alleviate those concerns were not “carried out as intended”, according to a summary of the findings.

Trump’s security detail was not aware that state and local law enforcement were intensely pursuing a suspicious person, who turned out to be the gunman. Had they been aware, agents may have moved Trump to another location during the search, according to the report.

The internal Secret Service probe is in addition to other probes led by Congress, an independent panel convened by the Department of Homeland Security and the department’s internal watchdog. REUTERS