Secret Service agents told not to request extra security for July 13 Trump event, senator says

Agents planning the July 13 Donald J. Trump rally in Butler Township, Pennsylvania, were encouraged by U.S. Secret Service headquarters not to ask for extra event security, a whistleblower told Republican U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri.

An Aug. 23 letter from Hawley demanded an explanation from acting Secret Service Director Ronald L. Rowe Jr., who earlier suggested before Congress that no security assets had been denied for the Butler event.

“You must explain this apparent contradiction immediately,” Hawley wrote.

A whistleblower “with knowledge of Secret Service planning” for the Butler event said agents in the Pittsburgh field office did not ask for more security resources in their manpower requests “because agents on the ground were told not to ask for them in the first place,” Hawley wrote.

'These serious allegations suggest that the failures to protect the former president extended to top officials at the agency.'

The senator demanded Rowe provide his office with a list of which security assets were left out of the request for the Trump rally and indicate if he was aware that Secret Service officials advised the Pittsburgh office to leave them out.

“Importantly, these resources included counter-sniper teams and Counter Surveillance Division (CSD) personnel,” the letter said. “According to public reports, counter-snipers were ultimately approved, but only the day prior to the event—leaving them an insufficient amount of time to conduct a proper site assessment.”

The whistleblower said the lead advance agent for a “protectee trip” typically submits manpower requests to the local Secret Service field office, which forwards them to the Office of Protective Operations for final approval.

“According to the allegations, officials within this office preemptively informed the Pittsburgh field office that the Butler rally was not going to receive any additional security resources because Trump is a former president and not the incumbent president or vice president,” Hawley wrote.

Hawley referenced a previous whistleblower who said Counter Surveillance Division personnel “would have handcuffed the gunman in the parking lot after he was spotted with a rangefinder, but they were not present that day,” the letter said.

Nearly an hour before he opened fire on the rally, would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks was spotted by local counter-snipers using a rangefinder, a device utilized in sports and shooting to estimate distance to a target.

Secret Service was responsible for the security failures at the July 13 Donald J. Trump rally while trying to blame local police, a district attorney said. Photo by Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images

Crooks shot Trump in the right ear, killed volunteer firefighter Corey Comperatore, 50, and seriously wounded David Dutch, 57, and James Copenhaver, 74. Crooks was killed by a counter-sniper’s bullet after he had fired eight times. A local SWAT operator fired at Crooks from the ground and struck the stock of his rifle, ending Crooks' shooting spree.

At an Aug. 2 press conference, Rowe said the Counter Surveillance Division has a heavy workload in the National Capital Region securing permanent protective sites but goes into the field “when requested.”

“I know that there's been allegations that that I personally cut or that I, let's see, that I denied requests,” Rowe said. “The Counter Surveillance Division has been out there supporting the former president's detail at some very high-profile events. They continue to provide that support, and they're out there providing support right now.”

Hawley said the new allegations “suggest that CSD personnel, counter-sniper teams, and other critical security assets were not included in the manpower requests for the Butler trip because Secret Service officials told the requesting agents that they would be denied.”

Rowe’s decision to place five field agents on leave as a result of July 13 is an insufficient response to the tragedy, Hawley said.

“These serious allegations suggest that the failures to protect the former president extended to top officials at the agency,” he said.

Hawley has written to Secret Service and Department of Homeland Security officials with whistleblower allegations numerous times since the shooting.

In July, Hawley said the majority of security personnel at the Butler event were not from the Secret Service but from Homeland Security Investigations and were “unfamiliar with standard protocols typically used at these types of events.”

On July 22, he said there had been an individual assigned to cover the roof from which Crooks launched his attack “but this person abandoned his or her post due to the hot weather.”

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