The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, chaired by Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), released today its report on the Butler, Pennsylvania assassination attempt on U.S. President Donald Trump in 2024. They found that the repeated denial of extra security assets at a time when Trump faced heightened threats was key.
The committee conducted 17 interviews with Secret Service staff, and reviewed more than 75,000 pages of law enforcement documents during its investigation over the past year to reach its conclusions. The report stated: “What happened was inexcusable and the consequences imposed for the failures so far do not reflect the severity of the situation.”
The committee contested a statement from former Secret Service director Kimberly Cheatle, in which she claimed that requests for extra security assets at the Butler rally were not denied. “The Committee is aware, by the USSS’ own admission, that this claim is false,” the report said. Cheatle resigned in the aftermath of the shooting, saying she took “full responsibility” for the failure. It remains unclear, however, whether anyone in Washington is prepared to assume any responsibility for what was either a reckless disregard for the climate of assassinations, or an intentional stripping of security. What is clear is that the report focused on technical problems and minor reforms, not systemic solutions.
In a statement today, Secret Service Director Sean Curran said the agency would continue to cooperate with the Senate committee, and that, following last year’s shooting, “the Secret Service took a serious look at our operations and implemented substantive reforms to address the failures that occurred that day.” The central failure was described as the “lack of structured communication” by the Secret Service, which allowed the shooter, Thomas Crooks, to evade detection for nearly 45 minutes.
