A Secret Service counter-sniper warned in an email there would be another assassination attempt, citing the agency’s inability to protect leaders after a shooter wounded former President Donald Trump, two of his supporters, and killed another at a rally.
“We all SHOULD expect another [assassination] attempt to happen before November,” the counter-sniper wrote in the email obtained by RealClearPolitics and posted to X. “This agency NEEDS to change, if not now, WHEN? The NEXT assassination attempt in 30 days?”
The counter-sniper emailed the entire Secret Service Uniformed Division Monday night, saying the operators assigned to Trump’s fatal rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13 did their jobs “with their hands tied” and that Secret Service supervisors “knew better.”
“The foot soldiers working, made the best of a BAD situation that resulted in a civilian death and a near miss of the protectee and our Technician shooting and killing the suspect,” the counter-sniper wrote. “Our responsibility, our MISSION, is not about protecting an EMPTY White House located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. It’s about preventing and stopping another JFK style assassination, in whatever city that may be. Sadly, we have fallen short for YEARS.”
The whistleblower said he relayed these concerns to training officials and the captain of the Secret Service’s counter-sniper unit, “only to be brushed off as if those with less experience somehow knew more than me.”
The counter-sniper said he would not stop speaking out until five “high level supervisors (1 down)”— apparently referencing former Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle — are “fired or removed from their current positions.”
The Secret Service quickly deleted the email, according to RealClearPolitics.
Security Failures
Trump’s security team had been asking for increased resources for weeks before the rally, but the Department of Homeland Security rejected these requests. Secret Service Spokesman Anthony Guglielmi denied this, even though The Washington Post confirmed DHS’s rejection a week after it was reported by The Federalist.
The Secret Service briefed “stakeholders,” including FBI staff, on July 8 to discuss covering the Butler Trump rally, a nearby Jill Biden event, and a North Atlantic Treaty Organization meeting, according to a July 18 letter from the House Judiciary Committee to FBI Director Christopher Wray. Earlier, Guglielmi had claimed no “resources were diverted” from Trump.
The shooter flew a drone over the rally grounds just hours before Trump’s speech, The Wall Street Journal reported. He also hid his gun at the location beforehand.
Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, published a bevy of documents on Monday showing gaps in security at the rally.
The Butler County Emergency Service Unit held a briefing with local law enforcement at 9 a.m. that day, which the Secret Service did not attend.
When a Beaver County sniper finished his shift and left the building the shooter would use, he noticed the suspect at a picnic table and alerted other officers in a group chat at 4:26 p.m.
“Someone followed our lead and snuck in and parked by our cars,” he texted. “He knows you guys are up there.”
At 5:38 p.m., a Beaver County sniper sent photos of the shooter to the group, noting he had a “range finder” and was looking toward the stage. Minutes later, a Beaver County sniper sent photos of the suspect to the Beaver County Emergency Services Unit group chat. Officers recommended notifying command.
Snipers were not stationed on the shooter’s roof, Cheatle claimed, because it was “sloped.” But it was nearly flat, and other counter-snipers at the rally were stationed on another roof with a more significant slope.
Officials left a clear line of sight from the shooter’s rooftop to Trump. Meanwhile, three counter-snipers were stationed inside — but not on — the building. Local police reportedly told the Secret Service before the rally they did not have enough “manpower” to secure the building from which the shooter fired.
Secret Service agents spotted the shooter 20 minutes before violence broke out, according to ABC News. But Trump continued speaking uninterrupted.
Then shots broke out, grazing the side of the former president’s head. Trump ducked and Secret Service agents dove on top of him.
They ushered Trump to his vehicle, leaving his head unprotected. Meanwhile, one female agent fumbled with her holster, another seemed to stumble back and forth, and another dropped her sunglasses and put them back on.
“Some of us take our job and responsibility seriously, DEADLY serious,” the counter-sniper and whistleblower wrote in his email. “WE failed. Not because of commitment or sense of dedication. But because our SUPERVISORS (aka leadership) knew better and thought our concerns were less than important.”
