(BUTLER, Penn.) — At least five U.S. Secret Service officials involved in the planning of Donald Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, where a gunman attempted to kill the former president, have been placed on administrative leave, according to two sources familiar with the situation.
The officials are still working but not allowed to be involved in anything operational including the security planning, the sources told ABC News.
The Secret Service’s Office of Professional Responsibility investigation has been intensifying, and while the investigation has focused on the failures, miscues and planning up to Butler, the probe is now focusing on a number of issues, including the number of classified threats against former President Trump by Iran and what the agency did in response security-wise regarding the new intelligence.
An official tells ABC News this means even more senior officials might be caught up in the review.
“The U.S. Secret Service is committed to investigating the decisions and actions of personnel related to the event in Butler, Pennsylvania and the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump,” the agency said. “The U.S. Secret Service’s mission assurance review is progressing, and we are examining the processes, procedures and factors that led to this operational failure.”
The agency said it holds its personnel to the “highest professional standards” and would not comment further.
Trump was struck in his ear by a bullet during the assassination attempt at his campaign rally on July 13, which also killed one spectator and injured two others, according to officials. The gunman, identified by the FBI as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, was killed by Secret Service agents.
The U.S. Secret Service recently made arrangements for Trump to resume outdoor campaign rallies by surrounding his podium with bulletproof glass, multiple sources told ABC News.
Copyright © 2024, AB isqualified him from ever, ever, ever stepping foot into the Oval Office again.”
“If Republicans are being intellectually honest with ourselves, our party is not civil or conservative. It’s chaotic and crazy. And the only thing left to do is dump Trump,” Duncan said. “These days, our party acts more like a cult, a cult worshiping a felonous thug.”
He said he was supporting Harris and stared into the camera to speak to his “Republican friends at home watching.”
“If you vote for Kamala Harris in 2024 you’re not a Democrat, you’re a patriot,” said Duncan, prompting chants of “USA! USA.!”
Former Trump White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham told conventiongoers that she was “a true believer” of Trump.
“I was one of his closest advisers. The Trump family became my family,” said Grisham, adding that she spent Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s with the Trumps at Mar-a-Lago in Florida.
Grisham offered a behind-the-scenes look at Trump, alleging he mocks his supporters, calling them “basement dwellers.”
“On a hospital visit one time when people were dying in the ICU, he was mad the cameras were not watching him,” Grisham alleged. “He has no empathy, no morals and no fidelity to the truth. He used to tell me, ‘It doesn’t matter what you say, Stephanie. Say it enough and people will believe you.’ But it does matter. What you say matters and what you don’t say matters.”
Grisham said while working in the White House she was skewered for never holding a press briefing. She said it was because “I never wanted to stand at a podium and lie.”
“Now, here I am at a podium advocating for a Democrat and that’s because I love my country more than my party,” Grisham said during her speech Tuesday night.
Another Trump administration veteran, Olivia Troye, a former homeland security aide to Vice President Mike Pence, said her dream of working in the White House turned into a nightmare.
“I saw how Donald Trump undermined our intelligence community, our military leaders and, ultimately, our democratic process,” Troye said during her speech Wednesday night. “Now, he’s doing it again. Lying and laying the groundwork to undermine this election.”
Troye added, “Being inside Trump’s White House was terrifying, but what keeps me up at night is what will happen if he gets back there.”
Mesa, Arizona, Mayor John Giles began his DNC speech Tuesday by saying, “I have a confession to make: I’m a lifelong Republican.”
“I feel a little out of place tonight, but I feel more at home here than in today’s Republican party. The Grand Old Party had been kidnapped by extremists and evolved into a cult, the cult of Donald Trump,” Giles said. “Trump doesn’t know the first thing about public service. Like a child, he acts purely out of self-interest. We all need an adult in the White House. We’ve seen what happens when we don’t have one.”
Rich Logis of Florida told the conventioneers that two years ago he was a “full-fledged member of MAGA.”
“I believed Trump. I was a MAGA pundit. I had my own podcast. I was in a state of panic, terrified the Democrats were destroying our country,” Logis said, addressing the convention Monday night via a video link.
He said that when the pandemic hit, he began to see how important solid leadership is and described Trump’s handling of the crisis as “a major betrayal to the country.”
“So I finally stepped outside the MAGA echo chamber. I stopped listening to what Trump said and looked around with my own eyes. And I realized he had been lying about pretty much everything. Lying is Trump’s toxic superpower,” Logis said. “I made a grave mistake, but it’s never too late to change your mind.”
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