Secret Service Agent Was Googling Instead Of Guarding As Shots Targeted Trump In Butler, PA [WATCH]

A shocking new report from the Department of Homeland Security paints a grim picture of the Secret Service’s failures during the July 13 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, where President Donald Trump narrowly survived an assassination attempt.

According to the agency’s inspector general, the Secret Service missed numerous warnings and allowed a gunman to open fire from a nearby rooftop while one of its own agents frantically searched Google instead of reacting to the threat.

The 64-page report reveals that Trump’s security detail was never informed that an armed suspect had climbed onto the roof of the American Glass Research International complex, a mere 155 yards from the stage.

At that critical moment, the counter drone operator was reportedly looking up the location online instead of confirming it with local law enforcement already sounding the alarm.

Here’s What They’re Not Telling You About Your Retirement

At 6:09 p.m., police in Butler contacted the Secret Service and state police to report a suspicious man on the building’s roof.

Yet the agency’s communications team failed to request the building’s location or grasp the urgency of the situation.

The supervisor in charge later admitted he was too busy and had delegated the communication duties to a colleague who happened to be seated nearby.

That colleague, the counter drone operator, tried to find the AGR complex online rather than asking officers on the ground.

This Could Be the Most Important Video Gun Owners Watch All Year

Two minutes later, the would-be assassin, identified as Thomas Crooks, began firing toward the stage, grazing Trump’s ear, killing one spectator, and injuring two others. The operator was still typing into a search bar as the bullets flew.

The DHS report described the Secret Service’s handling of the incident as an “institutional breakdown.”

Local police had been warning of a suspicious person at the rally site since at least 5:42 p.m., but none of their calls or radio transmissions were received by those responsible for protecting the president.

The lack of a joint communication center meant 102 radio messages from local authorities went unheard by the Secret Service.

One of those transmissions, made more than 20 minutes before shots were fired, identified “a younger white male with long hair” spotted near the AGR building using a rangefinder aimed toward the stage.

Those warnings grew more urgent as the suspect disappeared from view.

By 6:11 p.m., another officer radioed that the man was armed and lying down on the roof. Seconds later, Crooks opened fire.

According to the DHS findings, the Secret Service received only five phone calls and three text messages about the gunman before the attack.

None of that information reached the agents whose job was to keep Trump safe on stage.

It was a communications collapse of historic proportions, and it nearly cost a president his life.

The report also highlighted an earlier disagreement between Trump’s campaign advance staff and the Secret Service regarding the placement of protective vehicles.

On July 12, one day before the attack, a site agent requested that trucks be parked between the stage and the AGR building to block possible lines of fire.

A Trump staffer reportedly rejected the idea, saying the trucks would interfere with camera angles for the event.

The agent later proposed a slightly different setup that satisfied the campaign staff but left the AGR building largely unobstructed.

This small decision, while seemingly logistical, may have left a line of sight open to the shooter.

Still, the larger fault falls squarely with the agency that failed to act on multiple warnings.

Crooks was quickly taken down by local law enforcement after shots erupted at the rally.

WATCH:

But the near disaster has renewed scrutiny of the Secret Service, an agency that has seen repeated controversies, including breaches of security during both Republican and Democrat administrations.

Many Americans are now asking whether the agency tasked with protecting presidents and candidates has grown complacent or distracted by bureaucracy.

The image of a Secret Service agent Googling the location of a rooftop while an assassin takes aim at a president is the kind of failure that shakes public confidence.

It signals something far deeper than bad luck; it reveals an agency adrift, bogged down by communication gaps, unclear chains of command, and misplaced priorities.

In the days since the DHS report was released, calls for accountability have erupted.

Lawmakers in Congress, particularly Republicans, are demanding internal reforms and independent investigations into how so many warning signs were ignored.

Some are even suggesting that upper-level management at the Secret Service has become too political and insufficiently focused on its core mission.

The Secret Service has not publicly commented on the report or announced any disciplinary actions.

But the details revealed by the inspector general leave little doubt about what happened in Butler.

Warnings were ignored, confusion reigned, and as a gunman prepared to strike, one of the nation’s top security agents was staring at a search engine instead of doing his job.

This episode is not just a bureaucratic failure; it was a moment when incompetence nearly changed American history.

Conservative voters who have long distrusted the system now see this as proof that the deep state’s decay extends to the very agency charged with protecting presidents.

Unless the rot is confronted and resolved, the next rally could end very differently.

The Real MOU: What Trump’s Iran Agreement Actually Says – Truth Thursday | EP 677

The opinions expressed by contributors and/or content partners are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of LifeZette. Contact us for guidelines on submitting your own commentary.