The United States Secret Service suspended six individuals without pay in the aftermath of the assassination attempt on President Donald Trump last July, an official with the agency told NBC News.
Following an investigation into the Butler, Pa., assassination attempt, in which a gunman’s bullet grazed Trump’s ear, the agency issued the suspensions, which included both individuals in supervisory roles and line-level agents. The length of the suspensions ranged from 10 to 42 days without pay. It is unclear when the agents were formally suspended.
NBC News previously reported that multiple secret service officials were placed on leave for their actions before and after the assassination attempt. That group included the Secret Service special agent in charge of the agency’s Pittsburgh field office, which was tasked with coordinating security with local law enforcement ahead of the rally.
Almost immediately after the assassination attempt on Trump last July, lawmakers of both parties questioned the security failures that allowed a 20-year-old lone gunman the opportunity to target and shoot Trump and kill firefighter Corey Comperatore, in what federal officials called an act of potential domestic terrorism.
Less than two weeks after the incident, Kimberly Cheatle, who then was the director of the Secret Service, stepped down from her position amid bipartisan calls for her resignation. At the time, she said she took “full responsibility for the security lapse.”
In an interview with ABC News ahead of her resignation, Cheatle said there was a “short period” of time between when the gunman was initially flagged as suspicious and when he began shooting. A Senate briefing into the incident later revealed that Secret Service agents first spotted the gunman on a rooftop 10 minutes before Trump took the stage, and 20 minutes before he opened fire. Secret Service personnel also faced criticism for the amount of time it took to remove Trump from the stage at his rally after he was shot.
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.
The House investigation, however, praised the response of the Secret Service to the second assassination attempt on Trump last September in West Palm Beach, Florida, crediting the agency for demonstrating “how properly executed protective measures can foil an attempted assassination.”
