One year after Trump assassination attempt, changes at Secret Service but questions remain

WASHINGTON (AP) — In many ways, the assassination attempt against Donald Trump at a Pennsylvania campaign stop was a perfect storm of failings coming together that allowed 20-year-old Michael Thomas Crooks to climb on top of a nearby building and take eight shots at the once and future president.

One attendee was killed, two others wounded and a bullet grazed Trump’s ear before a Secret Service counter sniper opened fire on Crooks and killed him. That day jolted an already chaotic race for the White House and solidified Trump’s iconic status in his party and beyond.

It also became a turning point for the agency tasked with protecting the president. As more details emerged about what went wrong, questions multiplied: What happened to the Secret Service’s planning? Why was a rooftop with a clear line of sight to Trump left unguarded? What motivated the shooter?

Another incident in September where a gunman camped in the shrubbery outside one of Trump’s golf courses before being spotted and shot at by a Secret Service agent also raised questions about the agency’s performance.

A year after Butler, multiple investigations have detailed the breakdowns that day. Under a new leader hired by Trump, the agency has been pushing to address those problems but key questions remain.

P correspondent Julie Walker reports, one year after an assassination attempt on then-presidential candidate Donald Trump, there are changes at the Secret Service, but questions remain.

“This was a wake-up call for the Secret Service,” said retired supervisory agent Bobby McDonald, who’s now a criminal justice lecturer at the University of New Haven.

Here’s a look at what went wrong, what’s been done to address problems and the questions still unanswered.

Time to remember the Dems’ response a year ago....

Headline:
Congressman Bennie Thompson staffer fired after social media posts lamenting shooter’s aim in Trump assassination attempt.
By Russ Latino - July 14, 2024
Jacqueline Marsaw, who worked as a field director of Rep. Bennie Thompson, wrote three inflammatory Facebook posts in the wake of the ...
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NY Post July 14, 2024.
Shameless lefties on social media came under fire for celebrating the assassination attempt on Donald Trump – with some even lamenting that the shooter missed and that it was “close to being the best day ever.”

“We were a second away, we were a centimeter away from half of the problem being gone and you missed!” the poster – who appeared to be driving while recording – cried into the camera.

“There was a white man attached to that trigger, I know it! We were a centimeter away!” they added.

A TikTok user also shared a compilation of other TikTokkers celebrating – and joking about – the shooting, which also critically wounded two other bystanders.

In one video, the poster held up a candle and sarcastically tried to summon the spirit of John Wilkes Booth, the actor who assassinated President Abraham Lincoln in 1865.

“John Wilkes Booth, if you are with us, please, please…” the person said before trailing off and snickering.

“We’re not even sending our best to f–ing assassinate,” another video claimed.

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