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Donald Trump returns to Butler after Senate denounces intelligence agency failures
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Donald Trump returns to Butler after Senate denounces intelligence agency failures

Former President Donald Trump is reportedly returning to Butler, Pennsylvania, for the first time since the assassination attempt at his rally in July, a Senate report released Wednesday accusing the Secret Service of “directly contributing” to the assassination.

Three sources told NBC News that Trump plans to return to the city on October 5 after promising on Truth Social that he would come back “for a big, beautiful rally.”

Newsweek He has contacted the Trump team for further details.

One bystander was killed and two others wounded in the July 13 shooting, which is officially being investigated as attempted murder. The gunman, Thomas Crooks, was killed by a Secret Service sniper.

Donald Trump
Republican U.S. candidate Donald Trump surrounded by secret service agents following the assassination attempt at his campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 2024. He is reportedly returning to the city on October 5.

Photo by REBECCA DROKE/AFP via Getty Images

It is unclear whether the Trump rally will be held at the same location next month.

The announcement came as a Senate report and the Secret Service admitted failings in the assassination.

The 94-page report from the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, released Wednesday morning, lists about half a dozen problems, including the lack of a chain of command, poor coordination with local law enforcement, inadequate resources and the failure to effectively secure the site.

Committee Chairman Gary Peters pointed out several Secret Service failures in a phone call with reporters on Tuesday before the report was released.

“Every single one of these mistakes was preventable, and the consequences of those mistakes were devastating,” Peters said. “This was the first assassination attempt on a former president and presidential candidate in more than four decades.”

A text message sent by a Secret Service agent to a supervisor about an hour before the shooting read: “I don’t have good reception on my phone or radio. I’m trying to stay connected(.)”

The Secret Service’s drone units also had “technical problems.”

In addition, the preliminary report said that agency officials were notified of a suspicious person with a rangefinder nearly half an hour before the shooting.

The report suggests that sniper teams were deployed after “credible intelligence” emerged about a threat. Shortly before the shots were fired, a sniper saw local officials running toward the building with weapons drawn. However, they did not alert Trump’s forces.

“Why am I hearing about threats on TV,” an agent wrote in a note, according to the report.

After the shooting, then-Director of the Secret Service Kimberly Cheatle was questioned by both parties in a four-hour hearing. Many criticized Cheatle for her evasive answers and failure to answer key questions. Shortly thereafter, on July 23, she resigned from her top post and Ronald Rowe Jr. assumed the role of acting director.

Ronald Rowe
Ronald Rowe Jr., acting director of the U.S. Secret Service, testified during a joint hearing of the Senate Judiciary and Homeland Security Committees on July 30, 2024 in Washington, DC. Last week, he said there was “complacency in the…”


Photo by ALLISON BAILEY/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images

Rowe, who appeared before a committee in late July, gave a press conference last week in which he acknowledged numerous security lapses, including the coordination of local security forces and the communication of authorities during the assassination.

“There was negligence on the part of others that resulted in a breach of safety protocols,” he said, adding that “those employees will be held accountable.”

The press conference came hours after the House unanimously passed a bill requiring the Secret Service to provide the same standards of protection to presidential candidates and sitting presidents. The bill, which now heads to the Senate, comes just five days after a suspected second assassination attempt on Trump.

The former president has enjoyed the same protections as President Joe Biden since the July assassination attempt. The “high level of protection is working,” Rowe said. According to authorities, a Secret Service agent spotted a suspect with a rifle at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, when the Republican presidential candidate was golfing there on Sept. 15.

“Ultimately, it is the Secret Service’s responsibility to secure a site,” Rowe said. “The Secret Service has the primary responsibility to create the site plan. We cannot delegate or pass our responsibility on to others.”

Trump had only started his speech at his July 13 rally a few minutes ago when loud bangs were heard. The former president appeared to grab his ear and fell to the ground. When he stood up again, surrounded by secret service agents, blood was running down his face.

“I had God on my side,” Trump said at the party convention in July. “If I hadn’t moved my head at that moment, the assassin’s bullet would have hit its target and I wouldn’t be here tonight. We wouldn’t be here together.”

“It’s actually too painful to tell,” Trump said in his speech at the Republican National Convention. “None of us know God’s plan or where it will take us… Every single moment we have on earth is a gift from God. We must do the best we can every day for the people and the country we love.”

The victim of the shooting at a rally for former President Donald Trump on Saturday was identified as Corey Comperatore, a former volunteer fire chief from Pennsylvania.

Also injured in the shooting were 57-year-old David Dutch of New Kensington, Pennsylvania, and 74-year-old James Copenhaver of Moon Township, Pennsylvania.

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