Former President Donald Trump is set to return to Butler, Pennsylvania, for the first time since an assassination attempt at his rally in July.
The Secret Service has faced criticism for its handling of the event, with a Senate report released Wednesday attributing several security failures to the incident.
When Is Donald Trump Holding A Rally At The Butler Farm?
Trump announced his return for an October 5 rally at the same Butler Farm Show location where the July 13 shooting occurred. The event, which Trump has promised to be a “big beautiful rally,” will serve as a testament to resilience, according to his campaign. “We do not let monsters like that evil assassin have the last word,” the campaign told Newsweek. They emphasized that, just as America has rebuilt after terrorist attacks or natural disasters, this rally will represent unity and strength.
During the July incident, one person was killed and two others injured when shooter Thomas Crooks opened fire, an attack currently being investigated as an assassination attempt. Crooks was killed by a Secret Service counter sniper.
The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, along with the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, released a 94-page report detailing multiple security issues during the rally, including poor coordination with local law enforcement, inadequate communication, and lack of proper resources.
Committee Chairman Gary Peters emphasized that these failures were preventable, adding that this was the first attempted assassination of a former president and presidential candidate in over four decades.
The report also revealed that the Secret Service had technical issues with communication devices and drones. In fact, the agency was alerted about a suspicious individual with a range finder nearly 30 minutes before the shooting, but failed to effectively secure the area.
While counter sniper teams were deployed in response to a credible threat, local law enforcement officers, who rushed toward the scene, did not notify Trump’s security detail before the shots were fired.
ALSO READ: China, For The First Time, Operates All Three Aircraft Carriers At Once Near Taiwan And Japan
