House Panel Finds Butler Assassination Attempt Was 'Preventable'
Trump Assassination Attempt: House Panel Finds itButler Assassination Attempt Was 'Preventable'
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
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.
While impassioned thoughts and remarks about this situation are understandable, the American people should rest assured that the USSS is already implenting changes with respect to personnel, communications, and technology. The USSS, as well as its parent agency DHS, is also in dire need of more funding, and while that's no excuse, it's a proposal that everyone can certainly agree upon.
