SS Suspends Agents On Trump’s Detail During PA Assassination Attempt
Six Secret Service agents were suspended without pay or benefits following an attempted assassination of President Donald Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania in July 2024.
Matt Quinn, the agency’s deputy director, told CBS News on Wednesday that they “weren’t going to fire [their] way out of this,” but did say they are “laser focused on fixing the root cause of the problem.”
Quinn told the outlet that the agents received penalties ranging from 10 to 42 days of unpaid leave and were assigned to restricted roles with reduced responsibilities upon their return. He added that the disciplinary measures followed a federally mandated process.
The agency faced intense criticism after the security breach that enabled gunman Thomas Crooks to open fire toward the stage at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 2024.
Corey Comperatore, a 50-year-old firefighter, father, and husband attending the event, was killed. President Trump was grazed by a bullet, and two other men were wounded by the gunfire. Crooks was ultimately killed by a Secret Service sniper.
“Secret Service is totally accountable for Butler,” Quinn told CBS. “Butler was an operational failure and we are focused today on ensuring that it never happens again.” He also said the agency is focusing on the “root cause” of the operational failure and fixing “the deficiencies that put us in that situation.”
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Since the Butler rally, Quinn stated that the Secret Service has deployed a new fleet of military-grade drones and mobile command posts to enhance radio communications with local law enforcement, Fox News reported.
The agency faced renewed criticism weeks later following a second assassination attempt on Trump in West Palm Beach, Florida. Although the attempt was thwarted, then-Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned, and the agency became the focus of multiple investigations and congressional hearings.
In December, a bipartisan House task force released a 180-page report declaring the Butler incident “preventable,” pointing to “preexisting” leadership and training deficiencies that “created an environment” conducive to security failures.
The report also noted that Secret Service did not coordinate well with local law enforcement.
Trump made some comments last week regarding the government’s investigation into one of the assassination attempts against him last year.
In response to a reporter’s query on Friday, the president said he’s “very satisfied” with the FBI’s investigation into the assassination attempt against him in Pennsylvania.
Trump made his remarks to Daily Caller White House Correspondent Reagan Reese on Thursday, putting to rest months of speculation and doubt surrounding the case. Until now, Trump had stopped short of giving the FBI a full endorsement, The Daily Caller reported.
In an earlier interview with Fox News, he admitted some parts of the case didn’t sit right. “I’m relying on my people to tell me what it is … The Secret Service, they tell me, is fine. But it’s a little hard to believe,” he said.
Back in March, FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino told Fox News there was no evidence of some grand conspiracy against Trump. “In some of these cases, the ‘there’ you’re looking for is not there. And I know people — I get it, I understand. It’s not there. If it was there, we would have told you,” Bongino said.
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That same month, Daily Caller’s Reese pressed White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt about whether Trump was satisfied with Bongino’s answer.
Leavitt responded, “Well, in the lead-up to your question, you answered your own question with the president’s own words, and I’ll leave it at that.”
In May, Bongino announced investigations into some well-known cases that involve “potential public corruption.”
The cases, which appeared to be ignored during the administration of former President Joe Biden, that are getting a new look include the attempted pipe-bombing in Washington, D.C., cocaine that was found at the White House, and the leak of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision that ended Roe v. Wade.
MY HUSBAND LEFT ME AND MY DISABLED BROTHER TO DROWN. THEN MY BROTHER STOOD UP.
THE LAST THING MY HUSBAND SAID BEFORE ABANDONING US
“The more you fight that door, Valerie, the faster you’ll drown.”
Julian said it almost casually.
Then he climbed through the driver’s window and disappeared into the freezing river.
I froze.
Water rushed into the SUV.
My brother Mason was trapped in the back seat.
“Julian!”
I slammed against the passenger door.
“Come back! Mason is still inside!”
He never looked back.
Minutes earlier, we had been driving toward Sterling Shipyard when Julian suddenly jerked the wheel.
The SUV smashed through the guardrail and plunged into the river.
It wasn’t an accident.
I reached for my seat belt.
It wouldn’t release.
I felt underneath the seat.
Wire.
Someone had deliberately locked the mechanism.
My blood ran cold.
Then I saw Julian on the riverbank.
And he wasn’t alone.
Chloe.
My half-sister.
She stood beneath a black umbrella, one hand resting on her pregnant stomach.
Julian walked straight into her arms.
They looked at the sinking SUV.
At us.
Then Julian smiled.
Three years of marriage shattered in one second.
The secret phone calls.
The endless business trips.
The lies.
Chloe appearing at every family gathering.
They had been together all along.
And now they had left us to die.
“Mason…”
My voice broke.
“I’m sorry. I brought him into our family.”
The water reached my chest.
Then something hit the back of my seat.
Once.
Twice.
I turned.
And stopped breathing.
Mason was standing.
Standing on both legs.
The legs I had believed were useless for fifteen years.
He reached inside his coat and pulled out a compact rescue cutter.
“Not now, Val.”
He sliced through the wire holding my seat belt.
“What happened to your legs?”
“Later.”
He pulled me free.
The SUV was almost completely submerged.
Mason forced open the rear door and dragged me into the freezing water.
I swam toward the surface.
He grabbed my arm.
“Not there.”
He pointed toward the riverbank.
Julian and Chloe were still watching.
Mason pulled me beneath an abandoned pier.
We surfaced in the darkness between two concrete supports.
I gasped for air.
Mason pressed a finger to his lips.
“Julian can’t know we survived.”
I stared at him.
“You’re walking.”
“I know.”
“For fifteen years…”
“I know.”
“You let me believe you were crippled.”
His face hardened.
Then I saw the pain in his eyes.
“Valerie…”
He looked toward the distant riverbank.
“Mom and Dad’s crash wasn’t an accident.”
My entire body went cold.
“What did you just say?”
Mason tightened his grip on my arm.
“Julian didn’t just try to kill us tonight.”
He leaned closer.
“He finished what he started fifteen years ago.”
I stared at him.
“Come with me.”
And for the first time that night, I realized the sinking SUV was only the beginning.
