Six Secret Service agents from the United States who were present at the July 13, 2024 campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, when a gunman attempted to assassinate Donald Trump, have been placed on administrative leave without pay. As announced by the Secret Service, the administrative sanctions involve suspension of duties ranging from 10 to 42 days.
The Secret Service did not release the identities of the six agents. The gunman shot Donald Trump while he was delivering a speech at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, wounding him in the right ear. The shooter had gained access to the rooftop of a nearby building with clear sight lines to Trump’s speaking area.
One person attending the rally was killed and two others were wounded by the gunman’s shots, who was subsequently neutralized by a sniper.
Trump: “Mistakes were made and this should not have happened”
The Secret Service came under investigation scrutiny and its director resigned.
In an interview set to air Saturday, Trump states that the Secret Service erred by not placing an agent on the roof of that specific building and failing to include local police in the communications network. “So mistakes were made. And this should not have happened,” he said in an interview with his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, on Fox News.
The current Secret Service director, Ron Rowe, was one of the agents who formed a human shield around Donald Trump as soon as the gunshots were heard. “The service has taken many measures to ensure that something like this will never happen again in the future,” he commented.
It should be noted that two months after the assassination attempt on Trump in Pennsylvania, a gunman was discovered hiding near Trump’s golf course in Florida and was arrested on charges of planning to assassinate the then-Republican presidential candidate.
