A House task force report released Monday criticized the Secret Service for “a lack of planning and coordination” with local officials during the “tragic” and “preventable” July 13 assassination attempt on Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.
“The information obtained during the first phase of the Task Force’s investigation clearly shows a lack of planning and coordination between the Secret Service and its law enforcement partners before the rally,” the House task force wrote in its preliminary 51-page report, adding that “the tragic and shocking events of July 13 were preventable and should not have happened.”
The Secret Service “did not give any guidance” to local authorities about “the placement, role, and responsibilities of their snipers,” according to the task force, which conducted 23 interviews with state and local law enforcement officials and reviewed “thousands of pages of documents” in its investigation.
While three local officials spotted gunman Thomas Crooks at around 5 p.m., noting his “suspicious behavior and manner,” the information did not reach the Secret Service until “around 5:38 p.m. to 5:51 p.m.” Officials attributed the lapse in communication to the absence of a central command system with the agency.
The Secret Service also did not send agents to two security briefings held by local authorities on the morning of the rally or include local officials in its own meetings. One Pennsylvania state police officer “was invited to the 1000 USSS briefing by one USSS agent, then subsequently asked to leave by another,” the report noted.
The House report echoed a Senate interim report published last month, which also found that a series of “stunning” operational and communication failures by the Secret Service “directly contributed to” Crooks being able to take multiple shots at Trump.
“Every single one of those failures was preventable and the consequences of those failures were dire,” said Sen. Gary Peters (D., Mich.), chairman of the Senate investigations committee.
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