A U.S. senator says whistleblowers have informed him that U.S. Secret Service officials “told agents working the Butler PA event NOT to request additional manpower resources for the rally & warned any such requests would be denied.”
In an August 23 letter to Ronald L. Rowe Jr., the acting director of the U.S. Secret Service, U.S. Senator Josh Hawley, a Republican from Missouri, wrote that the whistleblowers’ information contradicts Director Rowe’s testimony. According to a post Hawley wrote on X, sharing the letter, Rowe “said no resources were ever denied.”
Hawley released his letter as Fox News reported that “at least five members of the U.S. Secret Service (USSS) have been placed on administrative leave following the July 13 assassination attempt against” former president Donald Trump. Trump was shot in the ear, firefighter Corey Comperatore was murdered, and two other rallygoers were seriously injured. Thomas Matthew Crooks was shot to death by a Secret Service sniper on a nearby rooftop, which had not been secured.
🚨🚨 NEW – Whistleblower says Secret Service HQ told agents working the Butler PA event NOT to request additional manpower resources for the rally & warned any such requests would be denied. Contradicts Director Rowe testimony, who said no resources were ever denied pic.twitter.com/85sHTAI82u
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) August 23, 2024
“Your actions to place some field agents on leave are not enough. These serious allegations suggest that the failures to protect the former president extended to top officials at the agency,” Hawley wrote Rowe.
The new information comes as the New York Post quoted Rep. Michael Waltz (R-Florida), who is on the committee investigating the assassination attempt, as saying Crooks had encrypted messaging accounts on platforms located in Belgium, New Zealand, and Germany.
“Why does a 19-year-old kid who is a health care aide need encrypted platforms not even based in the United States, but based abroad — where most terrorist organizations know it is harder for our law enforcement to get into?” asked Waltz, according to The Post.
In the letter, Hawley wrote to Rowe, “I have received new whistleblower allegations that again call into question your recent testimony before the Senate. One whistleblower with knowledge of Secret Service planning for former President Trump’s trip to Butler, Pennsylvania, alleges that officials at Secret Service headquarters encouraged agents in charge of the trip not to request any additional security assets in its formal manpower request – effectively denying these assets through informal means.”
“Yet you have repeatedly suggested that no security assets had been denied for the Butler event. You must explain this apparent contradiction immediately.”
According to Hawley’s letter, the whistleblower says the “lead advance agent for a protectee trip typically submits a ‘manpower request’ to the local field office. This normally includes the number of personnel and other security assets needed for the event and is submitted to the U.S. Secret Service’s Office of Protective Operations – Manpower (OPO – Manpower) for final approval.”
According to the allegations, “Officials within this office preemptively informed the Pittsburgh field office that the Butler rally was not going to receive additional security resources because Trump is a former president and not the incumbent President or Vice President. According to the whistleblower, the manpower request did not include extra security resources because agents on the ground were told not to ask for them in the first place.”
These resources included counter-sniper teams and county Surveillance Division personnel (CSD), Hawley wrote.
He wrote that “counter-snipers were ultimately approved, but only the day prior to the event, leaving them an insufficient amount of time to conduct a proper site assessment.”
A separate whistleblower previously told Hawley that personnel from CSD would have handcuffed the gunman in the parking lot “after he was spotted with a rangefinder, but they were not present on the day,” the senator wrote.
He said that the acting director stated in an August 2 press conference that CSD personnel support former presidents’ details “when requested.”
“But these new allegations suggest that CSD personnel, counter-sniper teams, and other critical security assets were not included in the manpower request for the Butler trip because Secret Service officials told the requesting agents that they would be denied,” wrote Hawley.
According to Hawley, when the acting director gave testimony before the Senate on July 30, he was asked whether former President Trump’s team had been denied resources and stated, “If you’re talking about Butler, Pennsylvania, all assets requested were approved.”
You also stated directly to me that you have been “very transparent and forthcoming” with Congress, wrote Hawley.
But according to the allegations, “you did not tell the full story,” Hawuley wrote.
Hawley demanded these questions be answered immediately and publicly:
“Who within OPO – Manpower informed the Pittsburgh field office and/or the agents in charge not to include additional security assets in the manpower request because they would be denied? Has that individual(s) been disciplined?”
“Which specific security assets were left out of the manpower request for the Butler trip at the prompting of Secret Service officials?”
“Did you have personal knowledge that Secret Service officials had told the Pittsburgh field office to leave out additional security assets from the Butler manpower request when you testified before the Senate?”
“Please provide a copy of the manpower request submitted to OPO-Manpower for the Butler trip,” Hawley added.
