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Secret Service Acting Director Says Trump Assassination Attempt Investigation "Made Me Ashamed"
TIME
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7/30/2024
Officials shared new details regarding the timeline of the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump and additional background on the shooter during a Senate hearing Tuesday.
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00:00
The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God.
00:05
A critical part of the Secret Service mission is protecting our nation's current
00:09
and former government leaders.
00:12
The attempted assassination of former President Donald J. Trump
00:15
on Saturday, July 13, 2024, in Butler, Pennsylvania, was a failure on multiple levels.
00:24
Since my appointment as the acting director one week ago,
00:27
I identified gaps in our security on July 13 and have implemented corrective actions.
00:33
One of my first actions as acting director was traveling to the Butler Farm Show site
00:38
to better understand how our protection failed.
00:41
I went to the roof of the AGR building where the assailant fired shots,
00:46
and I laid in a prone position to evaluate his line of sight.
00:52
What I saw made me ashamed.
00:55
As a career law enforcement officer and a 25-year veteran with the Secret Service,
01:00
I cannot defend why that roof was not better secured.
01:04
To prevent similar lapses from occurring in the future,
01:07
I directed our personnel to ensure every event site security plan
01:13
is thoroughly vetted by multiple experienced supervisors before it is implemented.
01:19
It is clear to me that other protective enhancements
01:21
could have strengthened our security at the Butler event.
01:24
I've heard your calls for accountability, and I take them very seriously.
01:29
And given the magnitude of this failure,
01:31
the Secret Service's Office of Professional Responsibility
01:34
is reviewing the actions and decision-making of Secret Service personnel
01:39
in the lead-up to and on the day of the attack.
01:43
If this investigation reveals that Secret Service employees violated agency protocols,
01:48
those employees will be held accountable to our disciplinary process.
01:52
But I do not believe that inadequate time to plan for this event was a factor in the failure.
01:59
As you saw in my written statement,
02:01
I am prepared to provide an overview of the security planning leading up to
02:04
and during the July 13th attack.
02:06
However, I would like to point out that based on what I know right now,
02:10
neither the Secret Service counter-sniper teams
02:13
nor members of the former president's security detail
02:16
had any knowledge that there was a man on the roof of the AGR building with a firearm.
02:23
It is my understanding those personnel were not aware the assailant had a firearm
02:27
until they heard gunshots.
02:29
Prior to that, they were operating with the knowledge that local law enforcement
02:33
was working an issue of a suspicious individual prior to the shots being fired.
02:38
I regret that information was not passed to Congress and the public sooner with greater frequency.
02:44
And I fear this lack of information has given rise to multiple
02:48
false and dangerous conspiracy theories about what took place that day.
02:52
And I want to debunk these theories.
02:55
Let me address one conspiracy directly.
02:58
The Secret Service counter-sniper neutralized the assailant
03:02
within seconds after the assailant fired his weapon.
03:06
That counter-sniper had full discretion to use deadly force
03:10
to stop an attacker and did not need to seek authorization to fire.
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