WASHINGTON – Ronald Rowe Jr., the acting director of the U.S. Secret Service, held a news conference Friday afternoon to provide an update on the agency’s “mission assurance investigation” into the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump on July 13.
Trump was shot in the ear during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
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The Secret Service said its snipers killed the gunman, Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, just after shots were fired.
Crooks, a nursing home employee from the suburbs south of Pittsburgh, had been armed with an AR-15 that his dad bought, authorities said.
According to a new report that lays out a litany of missed opportunities to stop the gunman who opened fire from an unsecured roof, communication breakdowns with local law enforcement hampered the Secret Service’s performance ahead of the assassination attempt.
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A five-page document summarizing the Secret Service report’s key conclusions finds fault with both local and federal law enforcement, underscoring the cascading and wide-ranging failings that preceded the shooting.
“It’s important that we hold ourselves to account for the failures of July 13th and that we use the lessons learned to make sure that we do not have another mission failure like this again,” Rowe Jr. said in a statement accompanying the release of the report into the agency’s own internal investigation.
The report details a series of “communications deficiencies” before the shooting by Crooks, who was shot by a Secret Service counter-sniper after firing eight rounds in Trump’s direction from the roof of a building less than 150 yards from where Trump was speaking. It makes clear that the Secret Service knew even before the shooting that the rally site posed a security challenge.
Law enforcement also communicated vital information outside the Secret Service’s radio frequencies. As officers searched for Crooks before the shooting, details were being transmitted “via mobile/cellular devices in staggered or fragmented fashion” instead of through the Secret Service’s own network.
“The failure of personnel to broadcast via radio the description of the assailant, or vital information received from local law enforcement regarding a suspicious individual on the roof of the AGR complex, to all federal personnel at the Butler site inhibited the collective awareness of all Secret Service personnel,” the report said.
Among the problems: Some local police at the site were unaware of the existence of two communications centers on the grounds, meaning officers did not know that the Secret Service were not receiving their radio transmission.
Rowe Jr. also touched on the most current apparent assassination attempt on the GOP presidential nominee, which occurred Sunday at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, after being questioned about the level of security Trump is currently receiving.
Rowe Jr. declined to give specifics on the agency’s techniques and procedures, but said Trump is receiving the highest level of Secret Service protection possible and that during the visit to one of his South Florida golf courses, “counter sniper elements” were present, along with a counter assault team and a jump team.
He also praised the agent who spotted the rifle in the bushes, saying he was charged with “sweeping ahead” and was extremely vigilant and took swift action.
Still, the acting director said after any event the agency will re-evaluate their actions.
The suspect, Ryan Routh, was allegedly positioned on site at the West Palm Beach golf course for 12 hours before Trump showed up for an unplanned outing.
A Secret Service agent noticed the barrel of a rifle sticking out of a fence and fired toward the suspect, who then fled.
Authorities said the would-be gunman left behind an AK-47 style weapon, and a backpack with a GoPro and food.
But a witness snapped a photo of the getaway SUV and its stolen license plate, which helped deputies capture the suspect.
Records show Routh is a convicted felon with ties to Hawaii and North Carolina.
He was active on social media, sometimes criticizing the former president in posts, and he was especially passionate about the war in Ukraine -- even visiting the country.
And while Routh is only being held in federal jail on a pair of gun possession charges, Gov. Ron DeSantis says attempted murder should be on the table and he wants the state to handle that side of the case after launching his own investigation.
“In my judgement, it is not in the best interest of our state or our nation to have the same federal agencies that are seeking to prosecute Donald Trump leading this investigation,” DeSantis said earlier this week.
As of Friday afternoon, Routh was being held at a federal detention center in Miami. His next court hearing has been scheduled for Monday.