The assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump in Butler, PA, was entirely “preventable and should not have happened.” So says a damning interim report released Monday from a bipartisan House panel investigating the July shooting, further noting a series of “stunning security failures” at the event helped enable the potentially lethal action.
The report, based on 23 interviews with local law enforcement officials and thousands of pages of documents from various authorities, is just the latest look at the cascading and wide-ranging law enforcement failings that preceded the July 13 shooting where Trump was struck in the ear by gunfire, according to AP.
One rallygoer was killed in the shooting and two others were wounded.
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Matt Perdie / Breitbart News
The task force behind the report — comprised of seven Republicans and six Democrats — focus on “the fragmented lines of communication and unclear chains of command” between Secret Service and Pennsylvania state and local police but place the majority of the blame on the Secret Service for the security breakdown.
“Federal, state, and local law enforcement officers could have engaged Thomas Matthew Crooks at several pivotal moments,” the report stated.
Lawmakers added that throughout the afternoon, “as Crooks’s behavior became increasingly suspicious, fragmented lines of communication allowed Crooks to evade law enforcement” and climb onto the unsecured roof where he would eventually open fire. It concluded:
Put simply, the evidence obtained by the Task Force to date shows the tragic and shocking events of July 13 were preventable and should not have happened.
The House voted on July 24 to create the bipartisan task force to investigate the attempted assassination.
It will issue a final report on its findings no later than December 13, “including any recommendations for legislative reforms necessary to prevent future security lapses,” according to the text of the resolution the House passed.
