Top Secret Service agent in Pittsburgh says he was kept in dark on ‘credible’ threat ahead of Butler rally
The Secret Service special agent in charge (SAIC) of the Pittsburgh field office was not informed of credible threats to former President Trump ahead of his July 13 outdoor rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, and detailed in handwritten notes that they didn’t learn about the threats until after the assassination attempt when they saw it on television.
In a preliminary report on the July 13 assassination attempt on Trump released on Wednesday by the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, top senators listed several key failures of the Secret Service.
“Why am I hearing that there were threats to the site on TV,” the SAIC of the Pittsburgh office wrote in a handwritten note after the attempt.
A top Secret Service agent recorded notes after the July 13 assassination attempt in Pennsylvania, questioning why they learned about threats on TV. (Getty Images | U.S. Senate report)
“How can the SAIC of our [field office] not know about any threats and why did they feel that only one part of [Special Operations Divisions] was sufficient to cover it instead of the entire package,” the note continued.
According to the report, Secret Service counter snipers had been approved and sent to the Butler event due to “credible intelligence” of a threat. However, many of the Secret Service personnel interviewed by the committee, which they said included the intelligence advance agent and the SAIC of the field office, said they were not made aware of the threat.
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A screenshot taken from the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee interim report into the Trump assassination attempt shows an excerpt of notes taken after the July 13 rally. (Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee)
In fact, “only two of the [Secret Service] personnel the Committee has interviewed were made aware that there was a credible threat related to former President Trump prior to July 13,” the report reads. Only one of those personnel members was then made privy to the underlying classified information about the threat.
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Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe Jr. testifies before a joint hearing on Capitol Hill on July 30, 2024. (Michael A. McCoy for Washington Post via Getty Images)
Per the committee, the lead advance agent was informed by the second supervisor of Trump’s detail that “credible intel” was the reason for the addition of counter snipers to the event’s security. The SAIC said the information was not relayed to them, despite the advance agent asking the second supervisor to call the SAIC about the “credible intel.”
Even after learning of the counter sniper assignment and “credible intel,” the lead advance agent ultimately wrote in a preliminary survey document that “[a]t this time, no adverse intelligence has been developed concerning this visit. Any adverse intelligence that may arise will be passed on to all working supervisors.”
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The Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee is chaired by Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich. (Reuters/File)
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Secret Service agents told the committee that they “absolutely” should have been told about any intelligence or threats ahead of staffing the rally security.
“As a Site Agent or Lead [Advance] Agent assigned, you should have any intelligence or any information pertaining to an active threat to a particular protected,” the Site Agent told the committee, per the report. “It shocked me, like just being out there. They’re planning to have a protectee with 15-20,000 people in an outdoor event, when there’s an active threat for the drone attack. That was definitely one thing that obviously raised my concerns, and I know everyone’s concerns.”
Anthony Guglielmi, Secret Service chief of communications, said in a statement to Fox News Digital, “We have reviewed the interim report on the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump. The weight of our mission is not lost on us and in this hyperdynamic threat environment, the U.S. Secret Service cannot fail. Many of the insights gained from the Senate report align with the findings from our mission assurance review and are essential to ensuring that what happened on July 13 never happens again.”
