DHS Report Details Secret Service and Local Coordination Failures at 2024 Butler Rally

The Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General released a 64-page report on July 2, 2026, that identified several Secret Service security lapses at the July 13, 2024, campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Fox News reported that Thomas Matthew Crooks flew a drone undetected for nearly nine minutes at 102 feet altitude and 471 yards from the stage less than three hours before the event.

The Secret Service counter-drone system on site malfunctioned and was not operational during the flight.

The report stated that the Secret Service missed 102 radio transmissions about Crooks on a nearby roof with a long gun. Agents received only five phone calls and three text messages about the suspect because the Secret Service and local law enforcement operated from separate locations 257 yards apart with limited radio connectivity.

"The Secret Service’s overall lack of policy and processes coupled with limited intelligence sharing and poor collaboration and communication with protectee staff and state and local law enforcement set the conditions that led to missing opportunities to prevent and detect the attempted assassination," the report states.

Crooks fired eight shots from the roof of the American Glass Research International building 155 yards from the stage. Donald Trump was grazed in the ear. Corey Comperatore, 50, was killed, and two other spectators were critically injured.

The Secret Service failed to share intelligence about a long-distance threat with the Pittsburgh field office and agents on site. It also did not secure the area outside the security perimeter or block Crooks’ line of sight despite identifying the vulnerability during advance walkthroughs.