Several U.S. Secret Service employees have been placed on administrative leave as investigations continue into the botched security effort that allowed the July 13 assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump’s life, which killed one man and wounded Trump and two others.
The news broke on Friday as Fox News Channel’s “America Reports” was already interviewing former FBI senior executive Josh Skule about how the Secret Service had failed to protect Trump that day as he was speaking at a Butler, Pennsylvania campaign rally.
Reacting on the spot to the news, Skule said that the fact that the Secret Service members were placed on leave is a sign that evidence has been found that they mishandled the security detail, which left Trump vulnerable to the assassination attempt. Those suspended are likely still being paid as the investigation unfolds, Skule said.
“One member of Trump’s personal protective team and four members of the Secret Service’s Pittsburgh Field Office, including the special agent in charge, have been placed on leave,” according to Fox News Online, noting a recently revealed security communications breakdown on July 13:
“Text messages sent by local law enforcement responsible for monitoring the rally flagged Crooks to colleagues as suspicious at least 90 minutes before he opened fire. Despite this, he was still able to shoot at Trump and the crowd.”
However, Secret Service agents interviewed by RealClearPolitics say management by their leaders, not the agents on the ground at the rally, allowed the assassination attempt to take place:
“Other current Secret Service agents, including one who requested anonymity for fear of reprisal, pinned the failures at Butler directly on Rowe and other top leaders alleged ties because their decisions leading up to the July 13 rally set the rank-and-file agents up for failure.
“‘Leadership’s mismanagement of technology and personnel are what led to the failures in Butler, but they are not the ones being held accountable,’ a source in the Secret Service community told RealClearPolitics.”