Rep. Mike Kelly decries Secret Service's 'casual' attitude toward security at Trump's Butler rally

An overworked Secret Service was "casual" in preparing for former President Donald Trump's visit to Butler in July that almost ended in tragedy, the chair of the House task force investigating the attempted assassination said Sunday.

"The preparation for that event leaves a lot in our minds as to how in the world the most elite group, and the people we rely on to protect people, was so casual about that," U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Butler, said on ABC's "This Week." "And that's the way it seems right now. And hopefully, it doesn't get worse. But I've got to tell you, to me, it is very troubling where we are today and what we're trying to get to and to think the people we trust are the people that let us down the most."

Mr. Kelly's comments came after the acting head of the Secret Service, Ronald Rowe Jr., acknowledged that "complacency ... that led to a breach of protocols" seeped into the preparation to protect the former president at his July 13 rally in Butler. For example, Mr. Rowe said, concerns about "line of sight issues" and the complex of buildings from where Thomas Matthew Crooks shot at Trump "were not escalated to supervisors."

The panel's top Democrat, U.S. Rep. Jason Crow of Colorado, said the additional burdens placed on the Secret Service contributed to the breakdown of security.

"There were no doubt a series of cascading failures that day, which is reflective of a cultural problem, a command and control problem," Mr. Crow said on ABC. "But they are no doubt stretched thin. I mean, we are in a threat environment where threats are at historic highs. We're asking the Secret Service to protect a sitting president and then two presidential candidates and then former presidents and all their families in an environment where threats are three times, four times higher."

Mr. Crow suggested that trained agents from other federal agencies could be pressed into service to temporarily give the Secret Service some of the additional help it needs. Mr. Crow said that Mr. Rowe told the task force that agents were working 80 or 90 hours a week,

"It takes years to create a Secret Service agent," said Mr. Crow, D-Colo. "So, we have to rely on Department of Defense agents, other federal agencies to cover down and provide some relief to these folks. Because one of the issues that we saw in Butler, Pennsylvania, was the overreliance on local law enforcement. Now, these are fantastic folks. They do really well. But they are not trained and equipped to provide presidential level security."

And Mr. Kelly, said the additional funding needed could come from elsewhere in the federal government.

"We can redeploy money. And we need to do that. Secret Service works under Homeland Security," said Mr. Kelly, R-Butler. "So, looking at what resources the Department of Defense and other agencies that have a higher level of preparedness and resourcing can do to help Secret Service is really important."

As he did after the Butler shooting, Mr. Kelly called for a softening of political rhetoric, especially following what appears to be a second attempt on Trump's life at his West Palm Beach, Fla., golf club.

"There's such a heightened atmosphere right now," Mr. Kelly said. "I'm listening to everything that's taking place around the United States. We have people acting and acting out in a bad way and something spurring them on to do that. A lot of it is the rhetoric. We've got to be careful about what we say and when we say it and how it's received by somebody else."

Republican vice-presidential nominee JD Vance last week pinned the blame on the Democrats.

"The big difference between conservatives and liberals is that no one has tried to kill Kamala Harris in the last couple of months, and two people now have tried to kill Donald Trump in the last couple of months," the Ohio senator said in Georgia. "I'd say that's pretty strong evidence that the left needs to tone down the rhetoric and needs to cut this crap out. Somebody's going to get hurt by it."

U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., said Mr. Vance didn't deserve a response.

"Who's actually listening to what Vance says?" Mr. Fetterman said on NBC's "Meet the Press. "No one's really listening to him anymore. You know, he has developed a kind of reputation to say dumb things, pointless things and offend everybody. And he's been picked as the most unpopular pick in history. But no one's listening to him. I'm certainly not."