Secret Service agents failed to pick up radios that would have allowed them to communicate directly with local law enforcement
Local law enforcement set aside special radios for Secret Service agents the day before Trump’s rally in Butler Pennsylvania, but those radios were never picked up.
The radios were intended to allow law enforcement and Secret Service agents to communicate during the rally.
According to CNN, this failure contributed to significant confusion that could have cost Donald Trump his life, and did cost the life of Corey Comperatore, a member of the audience.
Details about the radios emerged in a Congressional report published by Rep. Clay Higgins, who is serving on the Congressional task force investigating the failed assassination attempt on Donald Trump.
Higgins claims that a county emergency services commander had “personally reminded” Secret Service counter-sniper teams to pick up their assigned radios at a command post located at the Butler County Fairgrounds. “It didn’t happen,” Higgins’ report stated.
The claim about the radios was confirmed to CNN by Butler County District Attorney Richard Goldinger.
“I can confirm that the Butler County ESU team made radios available to the Secret Service and that they were not utilized by the Secret Service,” Goldinger said in a statement.
“It is safe to assume that if a holder of an ESU radio was paying attention, they would have received the call,” Goldinger added.
The Secret Service said in a statement that they will examine Higgins’ report and are “committed to investigating the decisions and actions of personnel related to the event in Butler, Pennsylvania” and will hold “our personnel accountable to the highest professional standards.”
Rep. Higgins and other members of the Congressional task force will visit Butler on Monday to meet with local officials and tour the site of the rally.
A communication breakdown has been highlighted as one of the key contributing factors allowing Thomas Matthew Crooks to gain access to his rooftop sniper’s perch and fire eight shots at the former president before being eliminated.
“Local officials were penned in by a cumbersome hierarchical system of reporting that stymied the flow of urgent information from one unit to the next,” Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa told CNN in a statement.
“There was no unified radio channel for all law enforcement on the premises to communicate in the event of an emergency—instead, units connected over various radio channels, group chats and even emails,” Grassley said. “Officers relied heavily on spotty cell service to get their messages through, and were often unsure if the right law enforcement entity received them.”
