New whistleblower claims on first Trump assassination attempt 'highly damaging' to Secret Service: Hawley

GOP Sen. Josh Hawley released a wide-ranging report Monday morning detailing the failures of the Secret Service in connection with the first assassination attempt against former President Trump in July, including new whistleblower allegations that are "highly damaging to the credibility" of the agency. 

Hawley, R-Mo., shared his report with the House Task Force on the Attempted Assassination of Donald J. Trump to supplement their investigation. 

Hawley found a "compounding pattern of negligence, sloppiness, and gross incompetence that goes back years, all of which culminated in an assassination attempt that came inches from succeeding." 

"On July 13, 2024, former President Donald J. Trump was nearly killed by an assassin’s bullet while hosting a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, and the U.S. Secret Service failed to prevent it," the Hawley report states. "It was the most stunning breakdown in presidential security since the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan." 

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Former President Trump was injured during an assassination attempt at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Hawley said the Secret Service, FBI and Department of Homeland Security "have all tried to evade real accountability." 

"These agencies and their leaders have slow-walked congressional investigations, misled the American people, and shirked responsibility," the report states. 

After the first of two assassination attempts against Trump in just over two months, Hawley visited the Butler rally site to interview whistleblowers and opened up a whistleblower tip line, encouraging those with relevant information to share with officials. 

"The resulting findings are highly damaging to the credibility of the Secret Service and DHS," the report states. "They reveal a compounding pattern of negligence, sloppiness, and gross incompetence that goes back years, all of which culminated in an assassination attempt that came inches from succeeding." 

Whistleblowers provided valuable information to Hawley, including that the Secret Service’s Counter Surveillance Division, which performs threat assessments of event sites, did not perform a typical evaluation of the Butler site and was not present on the day of the rally. 

Hawley also learned that Secret Service personnel "declined multiple offers from a local law enforcement partner to deploy drone technology, despite the fact that the would-be assassin used a drone to survey the rally site mere hours before the attempted assassination." 

Hawley also learned that the Secret Service’s Office of Protective Operations-Manpower told agents in charge of security for the rally "not to request additional security resources because they would be denied." 

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The report also outlines other whistleblower allegations, including that law enforcement personnel "abandoned" the rooftop where would-be assassin Thomas Crooks attempted to assassinate Trump "because of hot weather."

The report also said the Secret Service agent with the responsibility of the security of the site, including "line-of-site concerns," was allegedly "known to be incompetent." 

"That incompetence led to the placement of items like flags around the Butler stage and catwalk, impairing visibility," the report states. 

Whistleblowers also told Hawley that supplemental DHS personnel were used to fill in shortages of Secret Service personnel on the day of the rally. Some of those agents were allegedly pulled off of child exploitation cases. Whistleblowers said their training was "merely a poor-quality, two-hour webinar." 

Meanwhile, Hawley revealed in the report that the lead agent responsible for the Butler rally "failed a key examination during their federal law enforcement training to become a Secret Service agent." 

Hawley also was told that Secret Service intelligence units – or teams of Secret Service agents paired with state and local law enforcement to handle reports of suspicious persons – were allegedly absent from the Butler rally.