Secret Service agents were negligent before Trump’s first assassination attempt. Latest details from the investigation

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The Secret Service’s internal investigation found major gaps in communication and negligence before the July assassination attempt on Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, Reuters writes.

“There was complacency on the part of” some agents “that led to a breach of security protocols,” Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe told reporters Friday, Sept. 20, adding that agency employees would be held accountable. reports g4media.ro.

“These sanctions will be administered in accordance with our disciplinary process,” Rowe said, declining to elaborate.

The assassination attempt against Trump at the July 13 rally led to widespread criticism of the Secret Service and the resignation of its former director. Critics raised concerns about how the suspect was able to gain access to a nearby rooftop with a direct view of where the former president was speaking.

Rowe defended the Secret Service’s actions in a separate assassination attempt on Trump at his Florida golf club on Sunday, September 15. In that case, a Secret Service agent fired on a suspect after spotting a rifle in the tree line.

The suspect did not fire any shots and did not see Trump, who was playing golf a few hundred yards away.

The suspect, identified as 58-year-old Ryan Routh, fled. He was later arrested and charged with weapons possession. He is expected to appear in federal court in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Monday.

“It appears that those agents, those supervisors, made quick decisions and made the right decisions,” he said when asked about the Sunday, Sept. 15, attempt.

Trump’s ear was injured, a rally attendee was killed and two others were wounded in the July shootout. The Secret Service has since said it is “ashamed” of the security lapse.

Rowe said Trump enjoyed the same level of protection as President Joe Biden and Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, his rival in the Nov. 5 election.

The Secret Service’s internal investigation identified communication gaps between local and state authorities. The Butler location was identified as a security problem by the Secret Service, but measures to mitigate those problems were not “implemented as intended,” according to a summary of the findings.

Little did Trump’s security team know that local and state law enforcement were in hot pursuit of a suspect who turned out to be the attacker. Had they known, agents could have moved Trump to another location during the search, according to the report.

The Secret Service’s internal investigation joins other investigations led by Congress, an independent panel convened by the Department of Homeland Security and the department’s internal watchdog.