Amid ongoing scrutiny of security lapses, five Secret Service members have been placed on administrative leave following the failed assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump. A bipartisan task force, including Republican and Democratic lawmakers, will visit the shooting scene in Pennsylvania on Monday to investigate the incident and determine how the gunman evaded security.
The investigation into the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump has taken a new turn as five Secret Service agents have been placed on administrative leave, Fox News has confirmed. The move comes more than a month after the July 13 incident at a Trump campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, where a gunman opened fire, grazing Trump's ear and injuring two others.
A bipartisan task force established by House Speaker Mike Johnson and Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries is set to visit the shooting scene on Monday as part of their investigation into the assassination attempt. Republican members of the task force include Sen. Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania, Rep. Mark Green of Tennessee, David Joyce of Ohio, Laurel Lee of Florida, Michael Waltz of Florida, Clay Higgins of Louisiana, and Pat Fallon of Texas. Democratic members include Jason Crow of Colorado, J. Luis Correa of California, Madeleine Dean and Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania, Glenn Ivey of Maryland, and Jared Moskowitz of Florida.
Trump Assassination Attempt Investigation Deepens as Secret Service Agents Placed on Leave
The task force's mission is to "understand what went wrong on the day of the attempted assassination," "ensure accountability," and "prevent such an agency failure from ever happening again," according to its website. The investigation will focus on how 20-year-old gunman Thomas Crooks was able to climb HVAC equipment and piping to get to the roof of the nearby American Glass Research (AGR) building and hide there until he began shooting around 6:11 p.m.
According to the FBI, Crooks had a DPMS AR-15-style firearm with a collapsible stock when he entered the area of the Butler Farm Show fairgrounds where Trump's campaign rally took place. He had signed up for the event three days prior and spent approximately 20 minutes in the area on the morning of the rally. Crooks' interest in firearms had begun around 2023, and he made 25 online firearms purchases using an alias in the spring of 2023.
Trump Assassination Attempt Investigation Deepens as Secret Service Agents Placed on Leave
On the day of the rally, Crooks flew a drone near the rally site and parked his vehicle about 200 yards from where Trump would be speaking. Law enforcement first spotted a suspicious person near the rally site around 5:10 p.m., over an hour before the shooting. Local law enforcement notified command and received confirmation that the Secret Service was aware of the person's presence.
Over the next hour, law enforcement identified Crooks as a person of interest, and snipers took photos of him and his bicycle left near the rally grounds. Republican Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley previously told Fox News Digital that a sniper "had eyes on" the suspicious person about 20 minutes before Crooks began firing.
Trump Assassination Attempt Investigation Deepens as Secret Service Agents Placed on Leave
Trump took the podium around 6 p.m., an hour after he was scheduled to speak. Eleven minutes later, Crooks fired multiple rounds, killing 50-year-old Corey Comperatore and seriously wounding 57-year-old David Dutch and 74-year-old James Copenhaver. Both men were hospitalized and have since been released.
Investigators located eight rounds on the roof where Crooks fired from. Republican Rep. Mike Kelly, who is leading the task force, has questioned why Trump was allowed to take the stage despite the fact that authorities were aware of a suspicious person hours in advance. "If there was an idea that there was somebody here that was suspect, why even allow President Trump to even go up to the podium ... and why did we go ahead and continue with the program?" Kelly said during an earlier visit to the site.
Trump Assassination Attempt Investigation Deepens as Secret Service Agents Placed on Leave
The FBI is investigating Crooks' motive and whether he had any co-conspirators, though the agency has said there are no signs to indicate there were others involved. The investigation into the security lapses that allowed Crooks to evade security and open fire is ongoing, and the findings of the task force are expected to shed light on the failures and recommend improvements to prevent such an incident from happening again.
