Imagine a security detail so disconnected that a credible threat to a former president’s life slips through the cracks. That’s the shocking reality uncovered by a recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report detailing the U.S. Secret Service’s bungled response to an assassination attempt on former President Donald J. Trump.
According to Newsmax, a devastating attack unfolded at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 2024, where a shooter fired on Trump, striking him in the right ear, and tragically killing rallygoer Corey Comperatore.
Let’s rewind to 10 days before the rally, when the Secret Service received credible intelligence about a threat to Trump’s life. This wasn’t specific to the event or the eventual gunman, but it was serious enough that senior officials knew about it. Yet, in a baffling oversight, this critical information never reached the personnel securing the rally or local law enforcement.
“Prior to the July 13 rally, senior-level Secret Service officials became aware of a threat,” the GAO report confirms. And yet, due to what the report calls “siloed” practices, this intel stayed locked away, as if national security is just a game of telephone played by bureaucrats more concerned with protocol than protection.
The shooter ultimately fired eight shots from a high-powered weapon atop the AGR building during the rally. A bullet grazed Trump’s head, a near-fatal miss, while another took the life of an innocent attendee, Corey Comperatore. It’s a heartbreaking outcome that raises the question: Could sharing that threat information have changed the day?
“Clearly, had all federal, state and local law enforcement officials known of this threat, it would’ve changed how they secured the AGR building,” Senator Chuck Grassley asserted. He’s spot on—when lives are on the line, hoarding intelligence behind classification walls isn’t just negligence; it’s a betrayal of the public trust.
Adding insult to injury, the Secret Service had a plan to use farm equipment to block a line-of-sight vulnerability at the AGR building. But a campaign staffer requested changes, and the advance team complied without looping in senior officials. If they had, those higher-ups might have vetoed the tweak and tightened the perimeter.
“The advance team didn’t notify senior officials overseeing the rally of these changes,” Grassley noted. It’s almost comical if it weren’t so tragic—apparently, even basic communication is too much to ask from an agency tasked with a “zero-fail mission.”
The GAO report pins much of the blame on the Secret Service’s internal culture of compartmentalized information-sharing. High classification levels, compounded by the Intelligence Community’s refusal to downgrade data for broader access, left key players in the dark. It’s a classic case of red tape over results, a hallmark of bloated government inefficiency.
Senator Grassley isn’t letting this slide, and rightfully so, as he’s spearheading oversight alongside the GAO to dig into these failures. His team has interviewed whistleblowers, local law enforcement, and rally attendees, while poring over security footage, texts, and police body cam recordings. Transparency isn’t just a buzzword here; it’s a demand for answers.
“I’ll be riding herd on them until I’m satisfied the job is done,” Grassley vowed. That’s the kind of tenacity needed when an agency’s missteps nearly cost a former president—and an innocent citizen—their lives.
The GAO suggests overhauling Secret Service policies to mandate proactive internal sharing of threat data. It’s a common-sense fix, yet one wonders why it took a near-tragedy to spotlight such an obvious flaw. Perhaps this is what happens when bureaucracy prioritizes procedure over purpose.
Grassley’s investigation has also laid bare the most detailed account of the attack to date, making public critical findings and footage. This isn’t just about pointing fingers; it’s about ensuring no family ever mourns another Corey Comperatore due to preventable errors.
The Secret Service’s mission leaves no room for slip-ups, yet the GAO report exposes a cascade of them—from intel hoarding to last-minute security tweaks gone unchecked. If there’s a silver lining, it’s that leaders like Grassley are pushing for legislative and procedural reforms to stop history from repeating itself.
At the end of the day, Americans deserve a government that protects its leaders and citizens without excuses or delays. Let’s hope this wake-up call forces the Secret Service to ditch the silos and embrace accountability—before another rally turns into a tragedy.
