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Instead, critical details were left in the shadows, setting the stage for disaster. The GAO describes a series of lapses ranging from resource misallocation and insufficient training to catastrophic communication failures, which all compounded in the days and hours before shots rang out.
“One year ago, a series of bad decisions and bureaucratic handicaps led to one of the most shocking moments in political history,” Grassley said. “The Secret Service’s failure on July 13 was the culmination of years of mismanagement and came after the Biden administration denied requests for enhanced security to protect President Trump. Americans should be grateful that President Trump survived that day and was ultimately reelected to restore common sense to our country.”
It wasn’t just federal negligence at play. Trump’s campaign team, clearly aware of heightened tensions and threats, sought extra security in the weeks before the rally. Yet those pleas were rejected. In a controversial move, the Biden administration reportedly prioritized allocating security resources to protect First Lady Jill Biden and former Vice President Kamala Harris over bolstering security for Trump.
That fateful day in Butler turned into a nightmare. As 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks fired shots from a rooftop, a bullet ripped past Trump’s head, grazing his ear—a matter of mere millimeters deciding between life and death. Retired firefighter Corey Comperatore tragically lost his life in the chaos, and two other Trump supporters were left critically wounded.
Further deepening the scandal, local police reportedly requested extra resources to help secure the rally but were turned down. Officer-worn body camera footage, now reviewed by the GAO, confirms those prior requests, revealing how stretched local law enforcement was as the deadly plot unfolded.
Adding insult to injury, the Secret Service’s agent in charge of scouting vulnerabilities at the rally site was new to her job—and Butler marked her first-ever experience planning a major outdoor political event. Fox News reported the Butler event was “her first time planning and securing a large outdoor event as the site agent.”
At the operational level, a staggering revelation emerged: the Secret Service lacked a formal policy for how to share credible threats with a protectee’s staff. That gap proved deadly. Before the rally, Trump’s campaign staff asked the Secret Service not to place large farm equipment near the stage—equipment that could have obstructed the shooter’s view—because it might have ruined campaign photos. Oblivious to the looming danger, the advance team agreed. It was a decision that, according to the GAO, may have cost lives.
Meanwhile, the Donald Trump Protective Division tried to beef up security by requesting enhanced counter Unmanned Aerial Surveillance (cUAS) tools for the rally. That plea was denied because those assets had been diverted elsewhere—to the Republican and Democratic National Conventions.
Despite this cascade of blunders, a single late decision likely saved Trump’s life. Senior officials eventually authorized counter sniper teams for the rally—an action the GAO described as “inconsistent with agency practices for making resource decisions.” Without that intervention, the report warns, Trump “would likely not have received the counter sniper assets that ultimately took out [Crooks].”
The bombshell GAO report follows an earlier 2024 probe by the House Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations and the Senate Homeland Security Committee, which jointly slammed the Secret Service for “significant failures in the planning, execution, and leadership of the Secret Service and its law enforcement partners.”
The GAO leaves no room for doubt: the horrifying attack in Butler “was preventable,” laying blame squarely on flawed advance planning, poor coordination with local police, and glaring leadership failures inside the Secret Service.
