Law enforcement in Butler County, Pennsylvania, warned the U.S. Secret Service in advance of former President Donald Trump’s campaign rally last weekend that they did not have the manpower to secure the building used by Trump’s would-be assassin.
Butler County District Attorney Richard Goldinger said the Secret Service was informed that the police “did not have manpower to assist with securing that building,” according to a report by The Washington Post.
A Secret Service official, who spoke to the Post on the condition of anonymity, confirmed Goldinger’s statement.
Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle has claimed the agency relied on local law enforcement to secure the rally’s surrounding area, which included the Agr International-owned building complex where the 20-year-old shooter was stationed, according to the Post.
Multiple jurisdictions had law enforcement present at the rally last Saturday, which has led to questions if adequate security measures were taken to ensure the safety of a former U.S. president.
“The Secret Service official confirmed that positioning an officer outside the building was considered one of the ways to protect against the risk that the agency prepares for at all public events,” the Post said in its report.
The report stated that the Secret Service’s planning included a proposal to “station a patrol car and officer outside the Agr International building complex.”
Police snipers were located inside the building when the shooter opened fire, but Secret Service agents were kept off the building’s roof because it was sloped, said Cheatle, an explanation that many, including professional roofers, have called absurd.
Federal authorities have since launched investigations into the security failure at Trump’s rally, which ended the life of a volunteer firefighter, injured two other rally-goers, and wounded Trump.
