Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., has condemned the Secret Service for numerous security lapses that he believes contributed to the near-fatal assassination attempt on President Donald Trump during the July 2024 Butler rally. In a report compiled by the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, Paul detailed how the agency denied or failed to fulfill at least 0 requests for enhanced security measures for the event, including counter-sniper deployments. The report also criticized former Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle for providing misleading testimony to Congress, which led to her resignation.
Paul, who authored the report, questioned the motive behind the attack, stating that the public may never know the full truth. ‘I think we aren’t going to know the motive, and I take that at face value,’ Paul said during an interview with CBS’s ‘Face the Nation.’ He expressed skepticism about the government’s transparency and emphasized that no one is likely to reveal a hidden agenda behind the shooting. The senator also lamented the agency’s failure to prevent the incident, noting that better security could have potentially saved the life of Corey Comperatore, a former fire chief who died while shielding his family and others during the attack.
Paul pointed to a ‘cascade of errors’ within the Secret Service, including a failure to act on early warnings that Thomas Crooks, the alleged assassin, was seen on multiple occasions before the shooting. ‘Forty-five seconds is a long time, nobody told them to take the president off the stage,’ Paul said, describing the security response as ‘inexcusable.’ He warned that the agency’s lack of accountability could have far-reaching consequences, noting that individuals responsible for the failures might still be in charge of presidential security in the future if not properly disciplined. ‘When we talked to the people in charge of security, everybody pointed the finger at somebody else,’ Paul said, adding that the agency’s response was driven by a ‘cultural coverup’ to avoid internal scrutiny.
The report highlights the agency’s reluctance to take responsibility for the incident, with disciplinary actions only taken after Paul subpoenaed the relevant officials. Paul described it as ‘a huge failure’ of the Secret Service, emphasizing the need for greater transparency and accountability in the wake of the attack. The incident has sparked renewed calls for reform within the agency, as concerns over safety and preparedness grow in the context of rising political tensions and the potential for further acts of violence in the upcoming elections.