What took so long? The assassination attempt on Donald Trump took place a year ago on this coming Sunday. Our friend Salena Zito had time to write her book about it and the general-election campaign, Butler: The Untold Story of the Near Assassination of Donald Trump and the Fight for America’s Heartland, which came out Tuesday. Why now?
Well, it wasn’t actually now. We’re just finding out about it now, for some reason, which still leaves the question of why it took so long to hear about this disciplinary action at the Secret Service:
Six agents were suspended by the U.S. Secret Service for failures connected to last year’s attempted assassination of then-presidential candidate Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, an official told ABC News.
The personnel moves were confirmed four days shy of the anniversary of the July 13, 2024, shooting incident that left Trump’s ear bloodied. …
The discipline against the six agents was issued in recent months, and the agents were given the right to appeal. The suspensions ranged from 10 to 42 days, according to the official, who was briefed on the agency’s actions.
The positions of those suspended ranged from supervisory level to line agent level, a source familiar with the agency’s decision told ABC News.
Given the multitude of failures in Butler, it hardly seems surprising that several agents got suspended. What seems surprising, though, is that it took this long for that information to become public. And for that matter, it’s also surprising that no one got fired for the incompetence that nearly led to the first murder of a presidential candidate since Bobby Kennedy in 1968. Then-Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned in disgrace ten days after the assassination attempt, but that’s the only departure yet known in the wake of the shooting, which also killed Corey Comperatore and wounded several others.
Why now? Not only does it sound as though all of the suspensions have been served, but it’s been seven months since a House task force issued a final conclusion on the assassination attempt. NBC News summed it up today:
In December, a House task force investigating the incident made nearly a dozen recommendations for the Secret Service, including the recording of all radio transmissions and logs, and the creation of new roles “for high-pressure moments.” In a 180-page report, the task force determined the Butler shooting was “preventable” but concluded there was not a “singular moment or decision” by the Secret Service that enabled the gunman to “nearly assassinate” Trump.
Really? The lack of attention to the obvious high ground the shooter used — a roof on the grounds, right where local law enforcement was staging — certainly seems like a singular moment/decision. The risk was so obvious that it calls into question everything about Secret Service operations and decision-making. The roof was only 135 yards from the stage, and yet the Secret Service never bothered to secure it or the grounds around it.
This seems like a very strange moment to reveal this discipline, and that’s not the only eye-raising timing issue in play. It has been nearly a year since a local law-enforcement sniper ended the threat by killing would-be assassin, and yet we still know next to nothing about him. The New York Times finally documented Crooks’ “descent into madness” on its own last month, but we’ve heard next to nothing from official sources as to whether evidence of other motives may exist and/or have been explored.
The families of the victims want answers too, and they aren’t getting many:
The families are also linked by their frustration about the communication and security failures of the Secret Service and lingering questions.
“As far as the Secret Service, you failed my brother. You failed our family,” Comperatore Meeder said.
“How does this 20-year-old snot-nosed kid outsmart the Secret Service?” Comperatore Meeder added. …
“I understand because of their position, they are not personally liable, but because of their position, they should have job liability,” Copenhaver added.
Comperatore Meeder agreed on the need for accountability.
“We want somebody named. We want names, that’s what we want. We want accountability. People should be fired. This should have happened before now. Here we are a year later and we still don’t know — the three of us, I’m speaking for the three of us — we still don’t know anything more than we knew then,” she said.
And for that matter, we don’t know much more about the other erstwhile Trump assassin. Ryan Routh’s political motives are clearer, but we’re not much closer to transparency, in part because we’re still waiting for his trial. Routh just applied for a change in counsel and presumably a continuance in his federal trial, with a state trial looming shortly thereafter:
A man awaiting trial on federal charges of attempting to assassinate Donald Trump last year at his Florida golf course is seeking to get rid of his court-appointed federal public defenders.
A hearing for Ryan Routh’s motion regarding the proposed termination of his appointed counsel is scheduled for Thursday in Fort Pierce, according to court records. The motion requesting the hearing didn’t say why Routh, 59, no longer wished to be represented by Kristy Militello and Renee Michelle Sihvola. ….
Routh faces charges of attempting to assassinate a major presidential candidate, possessing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, assaulting a federal officer, being a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number. Besides the federal charges, Routh also faces state charges of terrorism and attempted murder. He has pleaded not guilty.
The lack of transparency in Routh’s case is more understandable, given the need to preserve as much potential for a fair trial in Florida. Besides, we don’t have the same kind of abject failure by the Secret Service in that instance, where they responded quickly after having prepared adequately for threats in that venue. There is a pervading sense of determined opacity by the Secret Service and the Department of Homeland Security about what really happened in Butler, and why.
Be sure to read Salena’s book. It might be the best way to get some answers — and to keep pressing the questions.
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