Several members of the U.S. Secret Service were placed on administrative leave after the July 13 assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump in Butler County, Pennsylvania, Fox News reported.
At least five Secret Service members, including one from Trump’s personal protective team and four from the Pittsburgh Field Office, were put on leave nearly six weeks after the shooting, according to Fox News. Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, fired shots at the former president from a rooftop positioned 130 yards from the rally stage, raising concerns about the Secret Service’s security lapses. (RELATED: Acting Secret Service Chief ‘Retaliated Against’ Agents Who Had Security Concerns At Trump Event, Whistleblower Claims)
“This is such a ridiculously delayed reaction,” Tristan Leavitt, president of Empower Oversight said in a post on X. “These Secret Service employees should have been reassigned to these administrative duties on July 13. Director [Ronald] Rowe said he would wait until an investigation before issuing ‘disciplinary action’—but reassigning to admin duties is not disciplinary action.”
BUTLER, PENNSYLVANIA – JULY 13: Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump is rushed offstage by U.S. Secret Service agents after being grazed by a bullet during a rally on July 13, 2024 in Butler, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Crooks was reportedly spotted by witnesses, flagged by Secret Service agents and identified by a local counter sniper over an hour and a half before Trump took the stage. In the weeks following the incident, lawmakers held hearings pressing the Secret Service and the FBI regarding the security lapses leading up to the shooting.
Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned 10 days after the attempted assassination. (RELATED: ‘They Lied To Us’: Mike Lee Questions Why Secret Service Allowed Trump To Take Stage After Shooter Was Identified)
“There must be accountability at the Secret Service for its historic failures that led to the attempted assassination of President Trump,” Republican Kentucky Rep. James Comer, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, said in a statement on X. “Holding negligent employees accountable is the first step. I look forward to the Task Force’s findings of its investigation. We must ensure the Secret Service does not fail again.”
The Secret Service did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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