At least five members of the U.S. Secret Service (USSS) have been placed on administrative leave following the July 13 assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, Fox News has confirmed.
One member of Trump’s personal protective team and four members of the Secret Service’s Pittsburgh Field Office, including the special agent in charge, have been placed on leave nearly six weeks after the incident.
The news comes as the elite agency investigates the colossal security failure which led to Thomas Matthew Crooks firing off several shots from the nearby AGR building.
One bullet grazed Trump’s right ear, while firefighter Corey Comperatore was fatally struck. Rally-goers James Copenhaver and David Dutch were also shot and injured.
Former Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned less than two weeks after the shooting and after giving her initial testimony about the event before members of Congress. Various lawmakers have called on the Secret Service to make personnel changes and fire employees in the wake of the deadly incident.
Fox News has also learned that the threat to Trump from Iran was communicated internally at the Secret Service prior to the Butler, Pennsylvania, event and the investigation is likely looking into why the Butler event went forward, given the threat.
The Secret Service said in a statement that the agency is committed to investigating the decisions and actions of personnel in relation to the July 13 event.
“The U.S. Secret Service’s mission assurance review is progressing, and we are examining the processes, procedures and factors that led to this operational failure,” Anthony Guglielmi, the USSS chief of communications said in a statement.
“The U.S. Secret Service holds our personnel to the highest professional standards, and any identified and substantiated violations of policy will be investigated by the Office of Professional Responsibility for potential disciplinary action. Given this is a personnel matter, we are not in a position to comment further.”
The FBI has previously stated that Crooks accessed the roof of a building by climbing up HVAC equipment and piping. Crooks then traversed multiple rooftops before he found his shooting position on top of a building about 150 yards from where the former president spoke at his rally.
Text messages sent by local law enforcement responsible for monitoring the rally flagged Crooks to colleagues as suspicious at least 90 minutes before he opened fire. Despite this, he was still able to shoot at Trump and the crowd.
House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., welcomed the news that action has been taken on some Secret Service members.
“There must be accountability at the Secret Service for its historic failures that led to the attempted assassination of President Trump,” Comer said.
“Holding negligent employees accountable is the first step. I look forward to the Task Force’s findings of its investigation. We must ensure the Secret Service does not fail again.”
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., also welcomed the action taken by the agency.
“Suspending the Secret Service agents involved in this massive security failure is the least we could do — and it should have happened weeks ago,” Hawley said. We still need real answers about the attempt on President Trump’s life and accountability for everyone involved.”
Meanwhile, Attorney General Merrick Garland, speaking at an unrelated event, said Friday that he could not comment on any specific suspensions.
“This was a security failure and there is both an internal and external independent investigation,” Garland said. “They will provide lessons learned to prevent such a failure from happening again.”
Former NYPD inspector Paul Mauro tells Fox News that there were serious discrepancies in the planning and operation of the rally.
“Those discrepancies argue more things are not so much mistakes, but instead, institutional rot,” Maura said. “And what bothers me is that the executives who have been overseeing and not solving the problems that the Secret Service clearly has will likely get off scot-free. And certainly [Homeland Security Secretary] Mayorkas and Cheatle should not be able to ride off into the sunset with their reputations intact.”
Fox News’ Audrey Conklin contributed to this report.
