All eyes on security as Donald Trump plans return to Butler, Pennsylvania

WASHINGTON — Lawmakers and the Secret Service in the past week have revealed stunning failures in planning, leadership and communication that allowed a 20-year-old gunman to nearly assassinate Donald Trump at a July 13 rally in Butler County, Pennyslvania — where the Republican presidential nominee plans to return next weekend.

Investigations have shed light on concerns about dangerous sight lines at the Butler Farm Show grounds and intelligence on threats that never reached supervisors, a lack of direction to local law enforcement teams, and communication breakdowns that hamstrung authorities before Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire in a heated 2024 election season.

The revelations came as Trump, deadlocked in Pennsylvania polls with Vice President Kamala Harris, plans a return to the farm show grounds on Saturday, a month before Election Day. The community and authorities are bracing for the visit with more manpower, including private security, and pledges of better preparation.

The Secret Service released an initial report detailing breaches of protocol for which it has promised to hold agents accountable, and a bipartisan Senate panel released a report Wednesday revealing a host of planning and communication failures in Butler. The bipartisan House task force digging into the shooting also held its first hearing Thursday, with local police leaders telling lawmakers they received little to no direction from the Secret Service.

"We didn't receive any direction ... as far as how they wanted our sniper teams to deploy or what their actual mission would be," testified Edward Lenz, a commander in the Butler County Emergency Services Unit.

Crooks fired eight rounds from the roof of a building in the AGR International Inc. complex within range of the stage, an area that authorities expressed security concerns about in the days before the rally. But line of sight concerns "were not escalated to supervisors," the acting chief of the Secret Service, Ronald Rowe Jr., recently told reporters, amounting to "complacency ... that led to a breach of protocols."

Rowe said the agency and its partners have operated under a "heightened and increasingly dynamic threat environment since July 13," with an increased protective footprint and additional technology and equipment.

The leaders of the House task force, Reps. Mike Kelly, R-Butler, and Jason Crow, D-Colo., told reporters the Secret Service had made several positive adjustments. They noted Trump's protection level rose to the same as Harris' following an order from President Joe Biden after July 13.

Lawmakers and law enforcement officials say visitors to the farm grounds on Saturday should expect much tighter security to enter the rally, a wider security perimeter and ballistic glass — which the Secret Service has deployed at outdoor rallies since the Butler shooting — protecting Trump on the stage.

Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said the agency had already implemented several suggestions made by lawmakers. The agency is also examining long-term solutions to enhance communications and interoperability with other agencies to ensure "our coordinated efforts during protective events are seamless."

'A safe venue'

Mike McMullen, a Richland consultant who on July 13 hunkered down not far from Kelly after the gunfire rang out, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette "it's a huge factor that (Trump) returns" to Butler — both for his reelection effort in a pivotal battleground state and as a signal to Americans that "evil will never prevail."

"Security will be extremely heightened, but that is to be expected," he said. "He will have the bubble around him and more detail will be around him. It will be a safe venue."

Leslie Osche, chair of the Butler County Commissioners, told KDKA that she had been "assured that a private security firm will be on site as early as this weekend to secure both the farm show and AGR properties in advance." Public safety is her "utmost concern," she said.

Jon Malis, a North Hills veteran who attended the Butler rally, told the Post-Gazette that he's likely to return on Oct. 5. He said authorities don't need a "crazy amount of security" compared to July 13. They just need to "do what they were supposed to do in the first place," he said, namely maintaining a wider security perimeter, ensuring someone is posted on rooftops and that solid communication is available between agencies.

Lawmakers say officers grappled with heavy radio traffic while being unable to fully communicate across agencies July 13, with the Secret Service on its own channel. "Information in a moment of crisis (went) through radio, texts and phone calls — way too slowly," Kelly said.

Malis cited the Secret Service's failure to accept radios from local law enforcement. Lenz testified Thursday that radios were offered days before the rally, and Butler ESU's sniper team leader reminded the Secret Service about them July 13. They were never picked up, Lenz said.

"In the military ... the motto is 'shoot, move, communicate' — you have to be able to do all three things," Malis said. "Take out any one of them ... and you're not an effective force."

Asked about preparations for the Butler visit, Guglielmi told the Post-Gazette that Trump is receiving heightened levels of protection, "and our top priority is mitigating risks to ensure his continued safety at all times and in all places."

Rep. Eli Crane, R-Ariz., a former Navy SEAL sniper who cited risks at the Butler grounds, urged Trump on Thursday to "avoid this site on Oct. 5 and in the future," though he appreciated Trump's courage.

"I think we know him well enough he defies any type of logic when it comes to, 'Sir, we're concerned about your safety,'" Kelly said. "His answer is always ... 'I'm committed to serving the people of this country.'"

Crow said the task force wants more details on the Trump campaign's coordination with the Secret Service, calling it "a critical piece of the puzzle." But ultimately it's the Secret Service's responsibility to protect candidates, he said.

The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment. In a post on Truth Social, Trump said he was "surrounded by more men, guns and weapons than I have ever seen," citing "big threats" from Iran. He also thanked Congress for approving more resources to the Secret Service.

Heightened threat environment

Many Secret Service agents told a Senate panel that they were unaware of active threats to Trump over the summer, including a foiled, allegedly Iranian-backed plot that led to an arrest a day before the rally.

The Senate committee urged Congress to require the Secret Service to widely share intelligence on threats to protectees; establish clearly defined roles and responsibilities for agents; improve coordination with local agencies during planning; send more countersnipers to outdoor events; and base protection on threat levels, not the title of the protectee.

The FBI faces an increasingly complex threat environment as Election Day approaches, Director Christopher Wray testified in July. Asked about threats in Western Pennsylvania, Bradford Arick of the FBI's Pittsburgh field office recently told the Post-Gazette that he could neither confirm nor deny "any potential investigations related to any specific social media postings." He said the agency "routinely shares information with partner agencies whenever a specific threat should arise," and that the FBI is working "relentlessly to outpace our adversaries and innovate solutions to protect the American people from a wide range of threats."

Myles Snyder, Pennsylvania State Police spokesman, said troopers have "stayed quite busy" assisting with candidates' motorcades and crowd security. Snyder could not provide further details on the agency's role for events before Election Day, but said the agency "works hard to ensure our federal and local partners get any requested resources they need to provide for the safety of the candidates and event attendees."

There were more than 150 law enforcement personnel on the grounds July 13, including about 70 Secret Service agents, more than 30 state police troopers and 40-plus personnel with Butler ESU, along with others from Beaver County and the Department of Homeland Security, according to testimony.

Malis said he's "more worried about somebody escalating their tactics — someone who doesn't care about being seen or caught and runs up firing on everybody. It's hard to stop somebody from doing that." He's hopeful local law enforcement helps to step up on that front, particularly because the Secret Service's mission is protecting the former president, not the crowd.

"Forget about the Secret Service — if you see a gap somewhere, fill it," he said.

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