Despite repeated offers, the U.S. Secret Service declined local law enforcement's proposals to provide drone surveillance during former President Donald Trump's rally where a failed assassination attempt occurred.
On July 13, 2024, at a campaign rally for former President Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, a 20-year-old man named Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire from a rooftop, wounding four people and killing one. In the wake of this incident, a whistleblower has revealed that the U.S. Secret Service repeatedly denied offers from local law enforcement to utilize drone technology to secure the rally.
Whistleblower Reveals Secret Service Denied Drone Coverage Before Trump Shooting Attempt
According to Missouri Republican Senator Josh Hawley, a member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, the night before the rally, the U.S. Secret Service repeatedly declined offers from a local law enforcement partner to utilize drone technology. This means that the technology was available to USSS but was rejected.
Hawley wrote in a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, "This raises an obvious question: why was the U.S. Secret Service (USSS) not using its own drones?"
Whistleblower Reveals Secret Service Denied Drone Coverage Before Trump Shooting Attempt
FBI Director Christopher Wray confirmed during a congressional hearing this week that Crooks flew a drone of his own overhead before Trump took the stage. Hawley expressed concern over the Secret Service's failure to deploy their own drones.
The whistleblower also claims that after the shooting took place, the USSS asked the local partner to deploy drone technology to surveil the site. The senator has requested that Mayorkas hand over all DHS communications regarding drone coverage for the rally as part of a congressional investigation into the security failure.
Whistleblower Reveals Secret Service Denied Drone Coverage Before Trump Shooting Attempt
"It is hard to understand why USSS would decline to use drones when they were offered, particularly given the fact USSS permitted the shooter to overfly the rally area with his own drone mere hours before the event," wrote Hawley. "The failure to deploy drone technology is all the more concerning since, according to the whistleblower, the drones USSS was offered had the capability not only to identify active shooters but also to help neutralize them."
Crooks is believed to have cased out the rally venue in advance of the attack and arrived with multiple explosive devices that authorities recovered from his vehicle. He struck at least four people with AR-15 fire from the rooftop, killing a 50-year-old father of two named Corey Comperatore and seriously wounding David Dutch, 57, and James Copenhaver, 74. Trump later said he had been shot in the right ear, and photos from the scene showed him getting back to his feet after ducking for cover with blood on the right side of his head.
Whistleblower Reveals Secret Service Denied Drone Coverage Before Trump Shooting Attempt
Bill Gage, a retired Secret Service agent and a consultant at Safehaven Security Group, said it's not surprising that local authorities were turned down regarding their drone. He explained the complexity of drone specifications, federal flight rules, and training requirements.
"There needs to be a serious rethinking of the protective model that the USSS uses," said Gage. "The model is sound and proven, but how local assets fit in needs to be reassessed."
Whistleblower Reveals Secret Service Denied Drone Coverage Before Trump Shooting Attempt
Previous whistleblowers have also approached Hawley's office with details about the event, including an explanation for why the rooftop Crooks accessed before opening fire had been unmanned. An officer assigned to the rooftop allegedly abandoned it due to high heat. Following congressional testimony on the matter, U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned. The investigation into the security failure continues, and the whistleblower's revelations have raised further questions about the Secret Service's handling of the rally.
