The US Secret Service issued suspensions for six personnel over failings at one of Donald Trump’s rallies last year, during which a gunman attempted to assassinate the Republican, an official has confirmed.
The gathering in Butler, Pennsylvania, when Matthew Crooks fired at Trump and killed another attendee, was an “operational failure”, according to a Secret Service report released on Thursday.
One of Crooks’s bullets grazed the ear of Trump, who was then rushed to safety. The attacker was shot dead.
It is not clear when the staff suspensions were formally issued, and US media reports differ on whether or not they have already been served.
The staff were given penalties ranging from 10 to 42 days of leave without pay or benefits, according to the Thursday report.
“Secret Service is totally accountable for Butler,” Matt Quinn, the service’s deputy director, told the BBC’s US partner CBS News. “Butler was an operational failure and we are focused today on ensuring that it never happens again.”
Quinn, who was appointed to his role in May this year, added that he was “laser-focused on fixing the root cause of the problem”, but his organisation would not “fire our way out of this”.
He told CBS a number of improvements had already been made, involving military-grade drones and improved mobile command posts that could now be used by agents in the field.
The identities of the suspended staff and their roles on the day of the attack have not been disclosed.
Among the reforms the Secret Service implemented are “clear lines” of accountability, improved information sharing with local law enforcement partners and the creation of an Aviation and Airspace Security division that is “dedicated to maintaining the agency’s critical aerial monitoring capabilities”.
The news comes just days before the anniversary of the attack on 13 July 2024. Rally attendee Corey Comperatore was killed and two other people injured.
The incident prompted the resignation of the service’s then-director, Kimberly Cheatle.
The Secret Service has been under intense scrutiny for the last 12 months, and has faced sharp criticism from US Congress members.
Last September, a 94-page Senate report found that security failures and lack of communication within the US Secret Service “directly contributed” to the incident, and that many issues remained unaddressed two months later.
The attack was also described as preventable in another report, published in December, by a House of Representatives taskforce. That paper identified the main lapse as being a failure to secure the rooftop from which Crooks opened fire.
Trump, who was successfully re-elected in November, was provided with heightened security in the aftermath of the attack – ensuring that he received protection at a level above what is typical for a presidential candidate.
In September, he was again rushed to safety by Secret Service agents after a second would-be gunman lurked in bushes at Trump’s golf course in Florida. The FBI described this, too, as an apparent assassination attempt.
The suspect in that second incident was detained.