Six Secret Service agents suspended for failures related to the 2024 Trump attack

ABC News reported on Wednesday that six Secret Service agents were suspended in recent months for failures related to the assassination attempt in Butler County on then-Republican Party presidential candidate Donald Trump. The suspensions come just four days shy of the one-year anniversary of the shooting, which took place at the Butler Farm Show grounds on July 13 last year in an event that nearly took the life of the current president, who suffered a severe wound to his right ear.

Following the incident, an independent report by the Department of Homeland Security revealed there were numerous failures in the actions of law enforcement that created an environment vulnerable enough to allow the attack on the then-Republican candidate. "The Secret Service does not perform at the elite levels needed to discharge its critical mission. The Secret Service has become bureaucratic, complacent, and static even though risks have multiplied and technology has evolved," the report quoted by ABC concluded.

Sanctions ranged from 10 to 42 days

The media outlet also detailed that, according to sources aware of the measures who decided to keep their identity anonymous, "discipline against the six agents was issued in recent months, and the agents have the right to appeal." Similarly, ABC News explained that the suspensions of the six Secret Service agents, whose identities were not disclosed, ranged from 10 to 42 days, adding that the positions of those sanctioned range from line agents to supervisory positions.

Just ten days after the attack on Trump, the then-director of the Secret Service, Kimberly Cheatle, resigned from her post. The attacker was eventually identified as a 20-year-old named Thomas Crooks, who resided in Bethel Park and presented both psychological problems and radical political views. After Crooks fired several shots and almost assassinated the then Republican presidential candidate, Secret Service agents managed to shoot him on the spot, being strongly criticized for not having established the corresponding security conditions to prevent the event.