A new Department of Homeland Security inspector general report has laid bare yet another layer of catastrophic failure by the Secret Service during the July 13, 2024 assassination attempt on Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania.
A counter-drone operator was still running Google searches for the location of the rooftop gunman as Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire.
The findings, released this week, confirm the agency missed multiple opportunities to detect and stop the attack, with communications so broken that Trump’s inner protective detail was never told an armed suspect had been spotted on a building just 155 yards from the stage.
Secret Service member was Googling rooftop location of Trump’s would-be assassin when shots rang out in Butler, Pa.: DHS report https://t.co/MWOfG7irE4 pic.twitter.com/jHwUZwvtdv
— New York Post (@nypost) July 3, 2026
The 64-page report details a timeline of ignored alerts, delegated responsibilities during “busy” radio traffic, and a stunning lack of coordination with local law enforcement that turned a preventable incident into a near-national catastrophe.
One rally attendee, Corey Comperatore, was killed. Trump was grazed in the ear. Two others were wounded. Crooks was later shot dead by law enforcement.
Local law enforcement began raising alarms well before the shooting. At 5:42 p.m., radio traffic described a “younger white male long hair lurking around the AGR building” who had been “viewed with a rangefinder sighting the stage.” Officers lost sight of him but continued tracking the suspicious individual.
By 6:08 p.m., transmissions noted “someone on the roof with white shorts.” At 6:09 p.m., local police called the Secret Service and Pennsylvania State Police communications room to warn of a suspicious person on the AGR complex roof. Moments later, at 6:11 p.m., an officer radioed that the man was armed and laying down with a long gun — right before Crooks fired eight shots.
The Secret Service communications room supervisor delegated the incoming warning about the suspicious person to the counter-drone operator, citing busy radio traffic. That operator did not ask local police for the exact location of the AGR building. Instead, he turned to Google.
He was still searching online for the rooftop’s position relative to the rally site when Crooks fired the first shots at 6:11 p.m.
The report states the operator “did not immediately identify it as a risk” and that the supervisor “did not even recall learning that the suspicious person was on the roof.” Secret Service decision-makers responsible for Trump’s safety on stage were never informed of the threat at any point.
UPDATE: Trump Assassin Thomas Crooks
? New DHS Report found the Secret Service Assigned a highly inexperienced Agent with only 20 MINUTES of Training to run the Counter-drone System— and it FAILED coincidentally before Thomas Crooks flew his drone
Just hours before Thomas… pic.twitter.com/EcRC7LXvH0
— MJTruthUltra (@MJTruthUltra) July 3, 2026
Secret Service received only five phone calls and three text messages about Crooks. A total of 102 radio transmissions from local law enforcement about the gunman went unheard because the agency never established a joint communications room with police on site.
UPDATE: Trump Assassin Thomas Crooks
? NEW DHS Report found the Secret Service “Missed” 102 Critical Police Radio Alerts from Local Law Enforcement Scrambling to find the Armed Gunman on the Roof
Local police were urgently searching for Crooks and had him on their radios for… https://t.co/IG9x44zPQr pic.twitter.com/Meghn2dQrr
— MJTruthUltra (@MJTruthUltra) July 3, 2026
Additional lapses compounded the disaster. On July 12, the day before the rally, Secret Service personnel proposed positioning trucks between the AGR building and the stage to block the clear line of sight. Trump’s campaign staff rejected the idea, saying the trucks would be “too close to [President Trump’s] press shot.” An alternative spot was agreed upon instead.
The rooftop itself had been flagged earlier as a line-of-sight vulnerability, yet it was left unsecured and unmonitored.
The official line has long insisted Thomas Crooks acted alone with no broader conspiracy or assistance.
Yet prior reporting revealed the shooter maintained encrypted messaging accounts tied to foreign countries.
Later developments allegedly unmasked possible contacts linked to Crooks.
Tucker Carlson has directly exposed what he described as a cover-up surrounding the would-be assassin and the security failures that enabled him.
Even wilder speculation tying Crooks to intelligence programs like MKUltra was quickly shot down by the CIA.
Disciplinary actions have been limited. Six agents received suspensions ranging from 10 to 42 days without pay in some cases, with at least two original recommendations reportedly reduced.
Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned in the immediate aftermath, but the core planning and operational personnel tied to the Butler failures largely escaped serious consequences.
The new DHS inspector general report makes clear the Secret Service had the pieces — early local warnings, prior identification of the rooftop vulnerability, and real-time alerts — but failed to connect them in time.
A counter-drone operator Googling for answers while an assassin was already squeezing the trigger stands as one of the most damning single images of that afternoon.
Two years later, the questions have not gone away. The protective apparatus that is supposed to safeguard America’s leaders demonstrated a level of dysfunction that nearly changed the course of history.
Real reform and full transparency remain the only path to restoring any measure of trust. The American people are still waiting.
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