6 Secret Service agents disciplined after assassination attempt at July 2024 Trump Butler rally
Six agents with the U.S. Secret Service were suspended for their performance during an assassination attempt on then-candidate President Donald Trump in Butler County on July 13, 2024, multiple media outlets are reporting.
ABC News and CBS News both reported Wednesday, July 9, that the agents have been suspended in recent months. CBS News quoted Matt Quinn, Secret Service deputy director, as saying the agents received suspensions ranging from 10 to 42 days without pay or benefits and were placed in different or restricted roles after the suspensions.
The suspensions were confirmed just days before the anniversary of the shooting, which took the life of Buffalo Township resident Corey Comperatore and left two other rally-goers seriously injured.
Shots interrupted the rally, held at the Butler Farm Show grounds, just minutes after Trump began speaking. Secret Service countersnipers killed 20-year-old Matthew Thomas Crooks, whom the FBI identified as the shooter.
The incident sparked deep concern about the way the Secret Service protects officials and others. Kimberly Cheatle, who was the director of the Secret Service at the time of the assassination attempt, resigned 10 days later.
A bipartisan task force led by U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly, R-16th, issued a 180-page report in December. The report included 37 recommendations related to failures the task force identified in the way the Secret Service handled security for the rally.
Among the recommendations were better coordination between departments and having a plan to communicate with local law enforcement officers supporting the Secret Service at events.
Among the task force’s findings was that several local police officers spotted Crooks acting suspiciously and tried to notify Secret Service agents, but didn’t have the proper equipment to communicate with them.
The report also found the Secret Service failed to adequately plan for the rally.
“Secret Service personnel with little to no experience in advance planning roles were given significant responsibility, despite the July 13 event being held at a higher-risk outdoor venue with many line of sight issues, in addition to specific intelligence about a long-range threat,” the report said.