House panel finds Trump assassination event "preventable" in interim report
CBSOct 20
House Panel Finds Trump Butler Assassination Attempt Was 'Preventable'
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Above: Rep. Elijah Crane (R-Ariz.), left, and Rep. Cory Mills, (R-Fla.) Florida, arrive to testify during a hearing with the full task force on the assassination attempt of former Pres. Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania. Image copyright: Ting Shen/Contributor/Bloomberg via Getty Images
The Facts
The US House panel probing the July assassination attempt on former Pres. Donald Trump in Butler, Pa., released a preliminary report Monday, finding "a lack of planning and coordination between the Secret Service and its law enforcement partners before the rally."
It said the pre-rally security "walkthrough" between the Secret Service (USSS) and local police was "mismanaged." One local police commander told the committee the walkthrough was not "organized" and "just a bunch of people sort of milling around."
The Spin
Narrative A
The USSS is beyond responsible for this, as they are the primary line of defense for Donald Trump. Besides the rooftop, which anyone with common sense would have protected right away, there were many other elevated sites that the agency should've taken care of before that rally. The USSS has all the technology to monitor these threats, from drones to thermal cameras, but they simply chose not to.
Narrative B
While impassioned thoughts and remarks about this situation are understandable, the American people should rest assured that the USSS is already implementing changes with respect to personnel, communications, and technology. The USSS, as well as the Dept. of Homeland Security, is also in dire need of more funding, and while that's no excuse, it's a sound national security proposal that everyone can certainly agree upon.
