Rally security failure has Secret Service at odds with its local law enforcement allies
(CNN) — The attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump – the worst security failure by the U.S. Secret Service in four decades – has pitted the agency against local law enforcement as both say the other was responsible for securing the building where the gunman perched.
The public discrepancy is a significant departure from a normally close and successful relationship between the Secret Service and local police and could lead to an erosion of trust that further stresses security operations.
With responsibility for a long list of protectees as well as occasional foreign dignitaries, the Secret Service handles thousands of trips requiring protection – a massive burden that demands assistance from local law enforcement.
In an interview with ABC News on Monday, Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle said local police were inside the building at the time of the shooting, and that it was their role to secure the building roughly 120 to 150 meters away yet outside the hard perimeter and with a line of sight to the rally stage.
“There was local police in that building – there was local police in the area that were responsible for the outer perimeter of the building,” Cheatle said.
A source familiar with the investigation told CNN that snipers were stationed inside the building. The local sniper team, which hailed from the Butler County Emergency Services Unit, was located on the second floor providing overwatch of the crowd at the rally, the source said.
One former Secret Service agent took issue with Cheatle placing so much blame on the local law enforcement, telling CNN, “The Service is responsible for everything, not just the inner perimeter. They should make sure all of this is covered.”
“Officers inside a building – that’s not mitigating a high-ground vulnerability,” the former agent said.
Patrick Yoes, the national president of the Fraternal Order of Police, defended the conduct of local, state and federal officers in the wake of Cheatle’s comments in a pointed statement.
“Whatever happened in Butler, this was not a failure of the local, state or federal officers on the ground who responded to the shots fired at former President Trump. They acted heroically and put their lives on the line to protect everyone at the event and we must recognize that,” Yoes said. “This is a failure at the management or command level who failed to secure an obvious weakness in the security of this event.”
A Secret Service spokesman told CNN Sunday the agency did not sweep the building where Thomas Matthew Crooks laid on his stomach and fired several shots at Trump. Instead, the spokesman said, that would have been the responsibility of the local law enforcement – a routine operational decision – and that there should have been someone assigned to the post. Attendees in the crowd noticed the gunman on the roof nearly two minutes before the shots were fired, a CNN analysis of witness video and the official video feed Trump’s speech shows.
Jim Pasco, executive director of the Fraternal Order of Police, which represents more than 1,200 officers and agents of the Secret Service, stressed that state and local law enforcement are invaluable partners to the Secret Service, and that relationship is built on trust.
“There is going to be an erosion of this trust caused by the Secret Service’s injudicious statements,” Pasco told CNN. “This is kind of a betrayal by leadership of the Secret Service of the brave men and women who go out there and do an extraordinarily great professional jobs every day.”
“Secret Service agents and officers, the men and women who were there were heroes on Saturday,” Pasco said. “They were let down by a management plan.”
The former Secret Service agent told CNN that investigators will have to determine whether there were enough assets or personnel authorized by Secret Service leadership, and it will need to be determined if the local police failed to maintain the integrity of their area of responsibility.
“None of that changes the fact that, given the terrain and line of sight realities of that event, that the perimeter is not anywhere near expansive enough and is, in fact, dangerously close from a protective operations standpoint,” the source said.
Pasco, meanwhile, also objected to Cheatle’s delay in answering questions and issuing a public statement.
She told ABC News, “The buck stops with me.”
Pasco responded to CNN: “Apparently it took two days for the buck to stop.”
The Secret Service pointedly dismissed accusations that it was trying to shift blame, writing in a statement on X overnight Tuesday, “Our agency relies on the support of courageous police officers and local partners. We are deeply grateful for their unwavering commitment and bravery. Any suggestion otherwise is simply not true.”
Local officials say Secret Service was in charge
During a press conference late Saturday, where the Secret Service was not present, reporters asked who beyond the Secret Service was responsible for securing the rally.
“Well, Secret Service always has the lead on securing something like this, but then they work very closely … I hate to use the word routine, but it is a fairly routine matter for all of our agencies to work jointly with the Secret Service,” said Pennsylvania State Police Lt. Colonel George Bivens.
“It really depends on the venue, on what information is out there, what number of resources are devoted to it, and we work with them to provide whatever is requested by the Secret Service. But they’re the lead in that security.”
A Pennsylvania State Police official said that every asset requested by the Secret Service was provided.
Video shows local law enforcement seeming to scramble to follow-up on crowd members shouting the gunman had climbed onto the roof. In some videos shared on social media, officers appear to be running toward the building as onlookers shout directions to the officer.
A source told CNN that Butler Township Police also responded to the shooting – even firing a weapon at the gunman.
Biden says he’s comfortable with Secret Service
For his part, President Joe Biden said that he feels safe with the Secret Service and that the agency has his full confidence following the failed assassination attempt against Trump.
“I feel safe with the Secret Service,” Biden told NBC’s Lester Holt on Monday. “What we did see was the Secret Service who responded risked their lives … They were ready to give their lives to the president. The question is should they have anticipated what happened? Should they have done what they needed to do to prevent this from happening? That’s a question – that’s an open question.”
Biden also pointed to local law enforcement’s role in helping protect the former president on Saturday.
“There’s a major piece of this relates to domestic, local law enforcement. They play a large role,” the president said. “I’m not saying they weren’t competent, either. I’m just saying it’s a complicated process.”
CNN’s Justin Lear contributed to this report.