The US Secret Service has issued suspensions for several agents involved in securing the Pennsylvania rally last year where Donald Trump was hit in the ear and a rallygoer was killed by a would-be assassin, according to multiple sources.
At least two of those agents are appealing their suspensions, sources with knowledge told CNN, and no Secret Service employees have served their suspension, the sources added.
Several agents at the service’s Pittsburgh field office, along with one agent on Trump’s detail that day and a counter sniper, have each been issued suspensions ranging from a few weeks to over a month, sources familiar with the process told CNN.
On July 13, 2024, gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire on Trump during the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. The shooting left one rally attendee dead and two others in critical condition.
Several Congressional investigations and federal reports, including the Secret Service’s own analysis, found multiple failures that day including communication breakdowns with local police who spotted the shooter and confronted him on a nearby roof before he took aim at Trump.
Members of Congress said that in their investigations, agents continued to place blame on one another and that no one person was in charge of decisions that day.
Former and current law enforcement officials have expressed frustration in interviews with CNN that those in more senior leadership positions, specifically those in Trump’s detail, have not been held accountable for the serious failures that day.
“None of those operational people have been held accountable, some were even promoted,” one former senior agency official told CNN.
Former Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle abruptly resigned from the agency last year amid intense scrutiny of security lapses related to the assassination attempt.
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