Hawley: New whistleblower claims first Trump assassination attempt caused “extreme damage” to Secret Service

Republican Senator Josh Hawley released a comprehensive report Monday morning detailing the Secret Service's failures in connection with the first assassination attempt on former President Trump in July, including new allegations from whistleblowers that are “highly damaging to the agency's credibility.”

Hawley, Republican of Missouri, submitted his report to the House Task Force on the Attempted Assassination of Donald J. Trump as a supplement to their investigation.

Hawley discovered a “years-old pattern of negligence, sloppiness and blatant incompetence that culminated in an assassination attempt that came within a whisker of success.”

“On July 13, 2024, former President Donald J. Trump was nearly killed by an assassin's bullet at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, and U.S. intelligence failed to prevent it,” the Hawley report said. “It was the most horrifying breakdown of presidential security since the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and the attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan.”

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Hawley said the Secret Service, FBI and Department of Homeland Security “all tried to evade real responsibility.”

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“These agencies and their leaders have delayed congressional investigations, misled the American people, and evaded accountability,” the report said.

After the first of two assassination attempts against Trump in just over two months, Hawley visited the site of the Butler rally to interview whistleblowers and set up a whistleblower hotline, urging those with relevant information to pass it on to authorities.

“The resulting findings severely damage the credibility of the Secret Service and DHS,” the report says. “They reveal a pattern of negligence, sloppiness and gross incompetence that stretched over years and culminated in an assassination attempt that narrowly missed success.”

Whistleblowers provided Hawley with valuable information, including that the Secret Service's Counter-Surveillance Unit, which conducts threat assessments at venues, had not conducted a typical evaluation of the Butler site and was not present on the day of the rally.

Hawley also learned that Secret Service members “had turned down multiple offers from a local law enforcement partner to use drone technology, despite the fact that the would-be assassin had used a drone to monitor the rally site just hours before the attempted assassination.”

Hawley also learned that the Secret Service's Office of Protective Operations-Manpower told agents in charge of security at the rally “not to request additional security because they would be denied.”

Trump assassination attempt: Whistleblowers claim they were “woefully unprepared” to provide security

The report also details other allegations made by the whistleblower, including that law enforcement officials “abandoned” the rooftop from which would-be assassin Thomas Crooks attempted to assassinate Trump “due to the hot weather.”

The report also said the intelligence agent responsible for security at the site, including “line-of-sight concerns,” was allegedly “known to be incompetent.”

“This incompetence resulted in items such as flags being placed around the Butler stage and catwalk, obscuring visibility,” the report said.

Whistleblowers also told Hawley that additional DHS personnel were deployed to make up for Secret Service staffing shortages on the day of the rally. Some of those agents were allegedly pulled from child exploitation cases. Whistleblowers said their training was “no more than a two-hour, poor quality webinar.”

Meanwhile, Hawley revealed in the report that the lead agent in charge of the Butler rally “failed a key exam during his training to become a Secret Service agent.”

Hawley was also told that Secret Service intelligence units – or teams of Secret Service agents who work with state and local law enforcement to handle reports of suspicious individuals – were reportedly absent from the Butler rally.

Whistleblowers also told Hawley that the hospital grounds where Trump was treated after the shooting “were poorly secured and hospital staff were unable to answer basic questions about the security of the grounds.”

Kimberly Cheatle, who was director of the Secret Service at the time of the rally, resigned from her post following the massive security failure due to increasing pressure from members of Congress from both parties.

Deputy Director of the Secret Service, Michael Plati, is also retiring.

At least five intelligence agents have been placed on leave since the July attack.

Trump was hit by Crooks' bullet, which pierced the top of his right ear. As Secret Service agents led him away, blood streamed down his cheek and right ear, and the former president raised his arm in defiance.

Just one day later, Trump traveled to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, for the 2024 Republican National Convention. He attended events every night of the convention and officially accepted the Republican nomination for president on the final night.

Hawley released his report just one day after the second assassination attempt on Trump.

Trump was playing golf at his course, Trump International Golf Course in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Sunday when Secret Service agents spotted and began shooting another would-be assassin – Ryan Wesley Routh – who was allegedly pointing an AK-47 at the former president on the green.

Routh was arrested. Routh laughed and smiled before his first court date in Florida on Monday, Fox News confirmed.

He was charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with an obscured serial number.

The first offense carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and supervised release. The second offense carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison, a $250,000 fine and supervised release. Routh responded “yes” when asked if he understood the penalties.

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Fox News has been told that additional federal charges are possible. The initial charges announced Monday keep Routh in custody.

The detention hearing is scheduled for September 23, and the hearing to determine sufficient suspicion is scheduled for September 30.

Before his recent arrest, Routh had at least 100 encounters with police.

In an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital, Trump said the rhetoric of President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris was the reason he was “being shot at” after his second assassination attempt since July. He told Fox News Digital that the suspected shooter “acted” on the “highly inflammatory language” used by Democrats.

“He believed the rhetoric of Biden and Harris and acted on it,” Trump said of the shooter in an interview with Fox News Digital. “Their rhetoric is getting me shot when I'm the one who's going to save the country and they're the ones destroying the country — both from within and without.”

Trump referred to previous comments by Biden and Harris in which they portrayed Trump as a “threat to democracy” while telling Americans that they were “leaders of unity.”

“They are the opposite,” Trump said. “These are people who want to destroy our country.”

He added: “It is called the enemy from within. It is the real threat.”

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