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Senate Report: Secret Service Failures to Blame for Attempt on Trump's Life
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Above: Former Pres. Donald Trump prior to the assassination attempt on his life July 13, 2024. Image copyright: The Washington Post/Contributor/The Washington Post via Getty Images
The Facts
A bipartisan US Senate report released Wednesday determined that failures of the Secret Service ahead of the July rally, where GOP presidential nominee and former Pres. Donald Trump was grazed by a bullet, were "foreseeable" and "preventable."
The 94-page interim report — part of a joint investigation between the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations — cited five failures that "directly contributed" to the assassination attempt.
The Spin
Establishment-critical narrative
Despite the acting director of the Secret Service reassuring the public that his agency is capable of providing adequate protection to Trump and other high-profile Americans, the details of this report paint a different picture. The swath of people to blame is so wide, it's probably time for a major turnover and injection of more competent staff, who will ensure nothing like the Butler shooting ever happens again.
Pro-establishment narrative
The Secret Service doesn't need an overhaul in personnel, it needs to adjust its approach to protection from a reactive model to one that's better prepared ahead of time to prevent incidents like this from taking place. Trump's security has been increased, and further changes will be introduced to the Secret Service's strategies and processes.
