Former Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle responded to the GAO report on the Butler assassination try launched by Senator Grassley.
On Saturday, simply someday shy of the one-year anniversary of the assassination try towards President Trump, Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) launched a report highlighting among the Secret Service failures.
As TGP reported earlier, a brand new Authorities Accountability Workplace (GAO) report revealed that the Secret Service throughout Biden’s presidency didn’t alert the crew liable for securing Trump’s July 13, 2024, rally.
That is the total clip.
1- pictures on trump
2- ss returns fireplace
3- you hear “shooter is down”
4- they stand trump up
5- he asks to get his sneakers
6- fist pumps and battleActually unreal.
— tyler hogge (@thogge) July 13, 2024
The report revealed the Secret Service, below then-Director Kimberly Cheatle’s management, knew of a risk towards President Trump’s life 10 days earlier than the tried assassination on the Butler rally; nevertheless, they didn’t relay the data to the USSS crew on the bottom in Pennsylvania.
The risk towards President Trump was not particular to the Butler rally or the gunman, Thomas Crooks.
Per the report:
Previous to the July 13 rally, senior-level Secret Service officers turned conscious of a risk to then-former President Trump. This data was not particular to the July 13 rally or gunman. Nonetheless, as a result of Secret Service’s siloed observe for sharing categorised risk data, Secret Service and native legislation enforcement personnel central to growing web site safety plans for the rally had been unaware of the risk. In line with Secret Service officers, this data was no more broadly shared throughout the Secret Service as a result of partly, the data was extremely categorised, and the Intelligence Group didn’t embrace data at a decrease classification degree to share. Nevertheless, the Secret Service’s siloed data sharing practices, similar to requesting that solely personnel inside a person’s chain of command be briefed on risk data, contributed to members of the advance crew not receiving related data. Making adjustments to Secret Service insurance policies to require it to proactively share risk data internally may assist guarantee its brokers and companions could have data wanted to supply efficient safety
Additional, sharing risk and danger data may additionally assist guarantee useful resource selections are primarily based on recognized dangers. Secret Service’s useful resource allocation course of just isn’t at the moment set as much as comprehensively think about all recognized dangers. Implementing a course of that does so will help guarantee safety asset decisionsare primarily based on want and never advert hoc actions exterior of a proper course of.
Per Fox, different key findings from the GAO report embrace:
- Ten days earlier than the occasion, high-level Secret Service officers had been briefed on a categorised risk to Trump. “As soon as these officers reviewed the intelligence, they may have then requested that personnel inside their chain of command be briefed on the precise data.” Officers didn’t share this data, leaving federal and native legislation enforcement entities planning and staffing the occasion unaware of the energetic risk, together with members of the Donald Trump Protecting Division. Native legislation enforcement officers informed the GAO they’d have requested further belongings for the Butler rally, had they recognized.
- The Secret Service agent who was liable for “identif[ying] web site vulnerabilities,” was new to her position. The Butler occasion was “her first time planning and securing a big out of doors occasion as the location agent.”
- On the time of the Butler occasion, the Secret Service lacked a proper coverage for speaking a protectee workers’s requests for adjustments to safety plans. A Trump marketing campaign staffer had requested the Secret Service advance crew, who was unaware of the energetic risk to Trump, to not use giant farm tools to handle line-of-sight issues close to one of many buildings in order to not intervene with marketing campaign press pictures. The advance crew complied, a call which can have given Crooks a clearer shot on the stage from his rooftop perch.
- Secret Service officers denied the Donald Trump Protecting Division’s request for enhanced counter Unmanned Aerial Surveillance (cUAS) tools on the Butler occasion, as “these sources had already been allotted for the Republican and Democratic Nationwide Conventions.” Luckily, senior officers with information of the risk towards Trump stepped in to approve counter sniper belongings for the rally, a call which was described as “inconsistent” with company practices for making useful resource selections.” Absent this last-minute choice, Trump “would probably not have acquired the counter sniper belongings that finally took out [Crooks],” the GAO wrote.
NEW GAO REPORT IM RELEASING says Secret Service knew of a risk 2Pres Trump’s life 10 DAYS b4 Butler however didnt share data w workers on the bottom so that they had been unprepared Rpt identifies Sct Service issues+ recommends fixes This data NVR wld hv been made public w/o CONG OVERSIGHT pic.twitter.com/hf9t87453a
— Chuck Grassley (@ChuckGrassley) July 12, 2025
Kimberly Cheatle responded to the GAO report, highlighting the Secret Service failures below her management.
Cheatle shifted the blame and known as July 13 a “good storm of occasions.”
She additionally denied that she offered deceptive testimony to Congress.
JUST IN: Former Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle responds to Sen. Grassley’s report on Trump taking pictures 1 12 months in the past: pic.twitter.com/Z7vByJ2nET
— Josh Gerstein (@joshgerstein) July 13, 2025
A number of Secret Service brokers related to the Butler assassination try had been suspended with out pay final week.
