Rand Paul slams Secret Service ‘cultural coverup’ after Trump shooting

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., said that we “aren’t going to know” the motive of President Donald Trump’s would-be assassin Thomas Crooks, after he released a scathing report slamming the Secret Service for multiple security failures at the fateful July 2024 Butler rally that nearly took Trump’s life.

“I think we aren’t going to know the motive, and I take that at face value. I know a lot of times when we don’t get something, and we suspect something. We think government’s lying to us, and look, I have my doubts about government on many levels, but I think at this level they’ve tried their best and I don’t think there’s a secret answer,” Paul told CBS “Face the Nation” Host Margaret Brennan Sunday.

The Kentucky senator had authored the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs report, which detailed multiple security failures leading up to the Butler assassination attempt. Shockingly, the report found that the Secret Service “denied or left unfulfilled at least 10 requests” for additional security for Trump, including counter snipers.

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The report accuses former Secret Service head Kimberly Cheatle of falsely testifying to Congress in July 2024 that “no USSS asset requests were denied for the Butler rally.” Cheatle resigned that day, following widespread bipartisan criticism of her testimony. Sen. Paul accused Cheatle of dishonesty, saying, she “did not tell the truth.”

Paul blasted the Secret Service for a “cascade of errors” leading up to the Butler assassination attempt which saw Trump narrowly avoid being killed by lone gunman Thomas Crooks, 20, with a bullet just grazing his ear. Former fire chief Corey Comperatore, 50, died while shielding his family and two others gravely injured. Paul suggested that had the Secret Service been more competent in performing its duties, Comperatore might still be alive.

“Corey Comperatore could have possibly been saved by having better security that day. This boy [Crooks] was seen four hours before the shooting. He was seen again 45 minutes before, three minutes before the shooting the crowd is chanting ‘man on a roof, man on a roof’ 45 seconds to go as he’s assembling his gun. Forty-five seconds is a long time, nobody told them to take the president off the stage. Inexcusable, terrible security,” Paul said.

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Paul said that whoever was in charge of security that day could have been fired, and lamented the possibility that those in charge that day might be leading security for presidential candidates in the future if proper disciplinary measures are not taken. 

“When we talked to the people in charge of security, everybody pointed the finger at somebody else… nobody wanted responsibility,” Paul said. 

Paul attributed the agency’s lack of honesty regarding the security failures at Butler to a “cultural coverup” within the Secret Service, and slammed them for only firing officials responsible after he began probing what went wrong.

“It was a cultural coverup for the agency. They did not want to assess blame, they did not want to look internally. They wanted to discount any of their actions that might have led to this. This was a cover your ass sort of moment… it was a huge failure.” Paul said. “Even the disciplinary action they finally took, they only took because I subpoenaed.”