Six Secret Service agents have been suspended without pay following the attempted assassination of President Donald Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania last July, the agency confirmed to Fox News.
The agents, a mix of supervisors and line-level personnel, received suspensions ranging from 10 to 42 days. None were fired, Fox News reported.
The Secret Service said the disciplinary action was handed down in February, but they confirmed it now because a Senate report on the failures in Butler, Pennsylvania, is expected to be released any day.
Instead of holding specific individuals accountable, the agency said it views the incident as a full-blown agency failure. Deputy Director Matt Quinn told CBS News, “We weren’t going to fire our way out of this,” but admitted they are “laser focused on fixing the root cause of the problem.”
The agents who were disciplined were placed into restricted roles with reduced responsibility when they returned to duty, according to Quinn. He said the process followed federal guidelines.
The July 13, 2024, rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, turned into a nightmare after 20-year-old Thomas Crooks opened fire from a nearby rooftop. A bullet grazed President Trump’s ear. Two other men were injured, and 50-year-old firefighter Corey Comperatore — a husband and father — was killed while shielding his family. Crooks was taken down by a Secret Service sniper.
“Secret Service is totally accountable for Butler,” Quinn told CBS. “Butler was an operational failure and we are focused today on ensuring that it never happens again.”
He said the agency is working to address the deficiencies that led to the breakdown and has since introduced military-grade drones and mobile command posts to improve coordination and communication with local law enforcement.
But the criticism didn’t stop in Butler. Just weeks later, a second assassination attempt on Trump was stopped in West Palm Beach, Florida. That incident pushed then-Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle to resign and triggered multiple investigations and congressional hearings.
In December, a bipartisan House task force released a scathing 180-page report that described the Butler attack as “preventable.” Lawmakers pointed to longstanding leadership and training problems within the agency and said there was a clear failure to coordinate with local law enforcement.
