4 takeaways from first congressional hearing on assassination attempt on Donald Trump in Butler

The congressional task force investigating two failed assassination attempts against former President Donald Trump convened for its first public hearing Thursday, where it heard testimony from a mix of state and local law enforcement officials, a former U.S. Secret Service officer and the Allegheny County medical examiner on the first attempt against the former president’s life, which took place over the summer in Butler. 

The shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, killed one person and injured others from atop an American Glass Research building that was roughly 200 yards away from where Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, was speaking on July 13 at the Butler Fair Grounds. The incident has prompted a slew of investigations into how Crooks was able to bypass detection and nearly assassinate the former president.  

Here are City & State’s key takeaways from the task force’s first hearing. 

The AGR International Building fell outside of the Secret Service secure perimeter

The building where Crooks was located fell outside of the Secret Service’s secure perimeter developed for the rally, according to an interim report issued by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. That was echoed during Thursday’s hearing by Drew Blasko, a patrolman for the Butler Township Police Department, during a question and answer portion of the proceeding. 

U.S. Rep. Madeleine Dean, who represents the commonwealth’s fourth congressional district, asked Blasko: “Is it your understanding that the AGR complex was left out of the secure perimeter by Secret Service and the plans in the rally outside of that which was established by Secret Service?”

“Yes, that was our understanding,” Blasko responded. 

Law enforcement officials were on separate communications channels

Thursday’s hearing revealed that law enforcement communications were siloed on the day the shooting occurred and that local law enforcement did not have the capability to hear radio chatter from the Secret Service. Local officials, the Pennsylvania State Police and the Secret Service were all using their own communications channels.

Edward Lenz, a sergeant with the Adams Township Police Department and commander of the Butler County Emergency Services Unit, detailed the situation to lawmakers. “I do not believe they could hear us at all,” he said of the Secret Service. “They did not have a radio from us, and we did not have a radio from them. So you know, in the local command post, there was no way for us to hear any of the Secret Service radio traffic.”

That troubled U.S. Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, who represents the commonwealth’s fourth congressional district. She said one of the task force’s findings in its final report should focus on improving communications between law enforcement agencies. 

“Here we were with three minutes and every second counting, and the Secret Service and the State Police weren’t able to directly hear what local law enforcement actually saw because they didn’t have that interoperability with law enforcement frequencies and didn’t have possession of those radios,” she said. “Given how important that communication is in communicating in a crisis, clearly, one of the findings of our investigation ought to be that there needs to be reform in terms of the technological communications that are going on here.”

The Secret Service had fewer agents on hand this year compared to Trump’s 2020 rally in Butler

July 13 wasn’t Trump’s first visit to Butler County for a political rally. While still in office, then-President Trump visited the county in 2020 for a rally held at an airport. 

Pennsylvania State Police Lt. John D. Herold noted during Thursday’s hearing that there were noticeably fewer Secret Service agents at the 2024 event at the Butler Farm Show grounds compared to the 2020 one. 

“Former President Donald J. Trump was the president then. So it seemed like there was more assets, resources, the motorcade – there was definitely more security at the airfield, at the Butler airport, compared to the Butler Farm Show,” Herold said.

U.S. Rep. Pat Fallon (R-TX) said there were multiple ways the threat could have been prevented

During the hearing, Fallon said the failures by the Secret Service to secure the area on July 13 cast a black mark on the agency. 

Fallon said multiple tools and tactics could have been used to either dissuade or prevent Crooks from accessing the roof of the building, including placing cameras or officers on the roof of the AGR building.

“There are about seven different ways the Secret Service could have secured that building. A 10-year-old looking at that satellite image could have seen that the greatest threat posed to the president that day outside the security perimeter was the AGR building and that roof,” he said. “A 20-year-old with a week’s notice figured it out, and outsmarted and outmaneuvered the entire U.S. Secret Service – and that is a shame and a stain on their agency.”