DHS Report Details Secret Service Failures at 2024 Butler Rally

A Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General report released July 2 found that the Secret Service received none of 102 radio transmissions local law enforcement made about Thomas Crooks in the hour before the July 13, 2024 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

The 64-page document, dated July 1, stated the Secret Service communications room received only five phone calls and three text messages about Crooks because no joint communications room had been established with local law enforcement. The rooms were located 257 yards apart with intermittent radio connectivity.

Local transmissions began around 5:42 p.m. describing a young man with a rangefinder near the American Glass Research International complex. Transmissions around 6:08 p.m. reported Crooks on the roof and armed.

Crooks fired eight rounds at 6:11 p.m. from 155 yards away, grazing then-candidate Donald Trump’s ear, killing attendee Corey Comperatore and wounding two others. A Secret Service counter-sniper killed Crooks.

The report said the Secret Service failed to detect a nearly nine-minute drone flight Crooks conducted over the site because its counter-drone system was inoperable. The assigned technician was under-trained and had not tested the equipment. It also found the agency did not share intelligence about a long-range threat with its Pittsburgh field office, did not secure the area outside the perimeter despite a Pennsylvania State Police plan, and did not block sightlines from the AGR complex after identifying the vulnerability.

A Secret Service site agent proposed positioning trucks to block the sightline, but Trump campaign staff rejected the proposal over concerns it would interfere with press photography. A backup plan was never verified as carried out. The Secret Service concurred with the inspector general’s recommendations and stated many had already been implemented as part of ongoing reforms.