The Secret Service dropped the ball twice in protecting Donald Trump.
The agency is still trying to stonewall investigators.
But a Secret Service agent noticed something scary about Iran’s links to the Trump shooting.
Former Secret Service agents revealed Butler security plan was out of the ordinary
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) impaneled a bipartisan House Task to investigate the shooting of former President Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13.
Former Secret Service agent Patrick Sullivan testified before the task force that the security protocols were “very atypical” for the Butler rally.
The location of agents and local law enforcement at the rally deviated from the agency’s norm.
And the communication between the Secret Service and law enforcement was atypical.
The FBI arrested Asif Merchant, a Pakistani national with links to Iran, a day before the Butler rally for his involvement in a murder-for-hire plot against Trump.
Merchant paid two undercover agents to carry out the assassination plot.
Representative Michael Waltz (R-FL) took issue with the lack of notification to local law enforcement about the Iranian threat.
“The FBI had arrested a Pakistani national with ties to Iran that were putting down payments to kill President Trump the day before the Butler rally,” Waltz said. “And no one told the locals that were responsible.”
Sulivan told the committee it would be a “tremendous game-changer” if the Secret Service revealed more information about serious threats to its protectees.
Communication failures contributed to the security fiasco at Butler rally
Sullivan noted that local law enforcement and the Secret Service each had command centers at the Butler rally.
Normally, the Secret Service runs a single command center where it invites local enforcement to coordinate with them.
Sullivan added that the Secret Service and local law enforcement should have been communicating on a single radio frequency.
Local law enforcement was communicating via text message during the event.
A Beaver County SWAT counter sniper told ABC News in July that his unit never spoke with the Secret Service until after Trump had been shot.
“There were decisions that were not appropriate in my opinion, and I’m really appalled at the communications plan or lack thereof,” Sullivan explained. “I cannot fathom how that would be acceptable.”
Butler County Emergency Services Unit Commander Edward Lenz told the committee that the Secret Service never requested counter snipers be placed on the American Glass Research building where the gunman opened fire.
“We didn’t receive any direction from the Secret Service as far as how they wanted our sniper teams to deploy or what their actual mission would be,” Lenz said. “So our snipers, on normal missions, they deploy more as marksmen observers.”
“As we understood it,” Lenz continued. “[the plan] was to deploy sniper teams to overwatch the stage, the crowd, the venue area, where most of the people would be gathering.”
The Secret Service lead agent for Butler denied any responsibility for security failures in testimony to the Senate.
But Sullivan pinned the blame on the lead agent for failing to secure the area.
“It is crystal clear in my mind from when I was an agent,” Sullivan said. “The site agent … crafts his or her plan, presents it to the lead advance agent. Ultimately, the lead advance agent is personally responsible for signing off on the entire advance package, all the sites, airport, motorcades.”
A whistleblower told U.S Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) that the lead in charge was a known incompetent.
This is further confirmation that the agent bears responsibility for the security failures that day.
Stay tuned to Unmuzzled News for any updates to this ongoing story.
