Iran, missed chances and sight lines: New report reveals how badly the Secret Service botched Trump rally security

The Local police had warned about Crooks acting suspiciously before the rally. Secret Service failed withkey lapses in its security plan and not communicating with local and state law enforcement agencies before a gunman opened fire at Donald Trump during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, a new report found.

The findings from the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs came via interviews and 2,800 pages of documents. The panel determined the agency tasked with protecting the former president did not take a proper leadership role in planning and securing the site on July 13. About 20 minutes into the Trump’s rally, gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, opened fire, wounding the former president, killing a spectator and injuring two more.

The Secret Service has faced intense criticism for its planning and the investigation into the attempted assassination.

“[United States Secret Service] failures in planning, communications, security, and allocations of resources… were foreseeable, preventable, and directly related to the events resulting in the assassination attempt,” the report says.

Some of the failures highlighted were the negligence in blocking a line of sight from the roof of the nearby building where the gunman would eventually be found. There were also credible threats about Iran targeting US politicians.

But most striking, the chaotic, and deficient, method of communication the Secret Service had with local and state law enforcement contributed to a delay in locating the gunman promptly and preventing the former president from taking the stage.

These are some of the failures found in the report:

The report found that a key failure was the lack of clearly defined responsibilities or chain of