Secret Service suspends 6 agents who failed at protecting President Trump last July

Photo: Getty Images

The Secret Service is in hot water, and they’re not skating by easy on this one. Six agents tasked with keeping President Donald Trump safe during that wild July 2024 assassination attempt in Pennsylvania have been suspended with no pay, no benefits, nada. We’re talking 10 to 42 days of eating ramen and staring at the wall, according to Secret Service Deputy Director Matt Quinn, who spilled the beans to CBS News. “We weren’t going to fire [our] way out of this,” Quinn said, but they’re “laser focused on fixing the root cause of the problem.” 

They screwed up, and they know it.

Those agents are back on duty, but they’ve been demoted to glorified desk jockeys with "restricted roles" and less responsibility. Quinn called it a "federally mandated process," which sounds like bureaucratic speak for "we followed the rulebook, now let’s move on."

Let’s rewind to July 13, 2024, in Butler, Pennsylvania. A gunman, Thomas Crooks, somehow got the drop on the Secret Service, climbing onto a nearby roof and unloading toward Trump’s rally stage. 

Absolute chaos. Trump’s ear got grazed, two other guys were hit, and Corey Comperatore, a 50-year-old firefighter, dad, and husband, was killed. Absolutely heartbreaking. A Secret Service sniper took Crooks out, but the damage was done. Quinn didn’t mince words: “Secret Service is totally accountable for Butler,” he told CBS. “Butler was an operational failure and we are focused today on ensuring that it never happens again.” 

Thank you, Sergeant Obvious.

The agency’s been under a microscope since, and deservedly so. They’re scrambling to fix what Quinn called the "root cause" of this disaster, rolling out fancy new toys like military-grade drones and mobile command posts to tighten up comms with local cops. But the hits kept coming. 

Photo: Getty Images

Weeks later, another assassination attempt on Trump went down in West Palm Beach, Florida. It got stopped, thank God, but the heat was too much for then-Director Kimberly Cheatle, who bailed after the backlash. Congressional hearings and investigations piled on, and a bipartisan House task force dropped a 180-page bombshell in December, calling Butler "preventable." They ripped into the Secret Service for leadership screw-ups and training gaps that "created an environment" where this kind of failure could happen. Oh, and they didn’t exactly play nice with local law enforcement either. Shocker.

Meanwhile, Corey Comperatore’s widow, Helen, sat down with Fox News’ Alexis McAdams to talk about her loss. That’s the human cost is something the Secret Service can’t just drone their way out of.

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USSS said they would 'take care of' slanted roof building Crooks used to shoot Trump

According to an investigation by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Secret Service agents assured Butler County, PA law enforcement that they would secure the AGR building with the scary slanted roof that would-be assassin Thomas Crooks used to shoot former President Donald Trump and others on July 13, Fox News reported.

"Butler County law enforcement officials stated that at separate times during the walkthrough, when they reiterated their concerns to the agents and counter sniper about securing the AGR complex buildings, the agents responded: ‘we will take care of it,’" Grassley's office revealed in a Tuesday letter to Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe.

So who's lying? Butler County PD or the Secret Service whose job it is to protect the President, presidential candidates and others and who ultimately has the responsibility to that end in spite of having assistance from outside agencies?

Trump came within millimeters of being struck in the head during the outdoor rally, and three others in the massive crowd were struck and critically injured, one of whom, Corey Comperatore, was killed by the gunman who was perched merely 130 yards from the Republican presidential nominee.

The shooter was known to law enforcement and he was observed ahead of the event with a range finder but did not call attention to himself because his shirt was not labeled 'Assassin.'

Grassley questioned Rowe whether the Butler County law enforcement officials' claim is true and, if so, what the Secret Service did to secure the area with the AGR complex buildings. He also noted weeks prior to the first assassination attempt that Rowe told his fellow senators during a hearing that "what was communicated is that the locals had a plan and that they had been there before," regarding the roof the AGR building.

Sen. Grassley's staff interviewed law enforcement officials and said that this was disputed by them.

During a walkthrough on July 11, while preparing for the rally, Secret Service agents allegedly promised to secure the AGR complex area. The law enforcement officials said they had already warned the agents about their safety concerns several times during the visit.

The Republican again mentioned his many requests for information to the Secret Service, and noted that at least two of his requests resulted in claims "that it would not provide responses to my requests due to other ongoing investigations and reviews."

"That’s unacceptable and fails to take into consideration Congress’s constitutional authority to conduct independent oversight. It also flies in the face of your congressional testimony about responding to Congress," Grassley charged.

Senator Grassley's ongoing independent investigation is delving into several critical incidents, such as the assassination attempt on July 13. Additionally, he is examining the recently uncovered plot by Asif Merchant, an alleged Iranian agent, who intended to assassinate a politician or a U.S. official, potentially former President Trump. Another focus of Grassley's probe is the second assassination attempt on Trump, which occurred in Florida on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Biden and Harris are supposedly running the country.

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They got him! AZ man who allegedly threatened to kill Trump caught like a dog

A manhunt was launched Thursday in Arizona for a man that authorities say threatened to assassinate former President Donald Trump before a planned event in the state.

For those living in a cave or under a rock, there was an attempt on the life of Trump on July 13, where he was struck by a round that pierced his ear. Another individual, Corey Comperatore was killed and two other individuals were wounded but survived.

Since the shooting, President Trump will now be appearing behind bullet-proof glass at outdoor events because the Secret Service seems to suck at protecting him.

But in this case, Cochise County Sheriff's Office told Fox News Digital that 66-year-old Ronald Lee Syvrud has been taken into custody without incident at around 2:30 p.m. local time in Cochise County. The charges are pending but he has outstanding warrants from Wisconsin for DUI and failure to appear for the DUI, and for hit-and-run and felony failure to register as a sex offender.

The sheriff’s office said earlier that Syvrud has outstanding warrants from the state of Wisconsin for DUI, failure to appear for DUI and from Graham County, Arizona, for hit-and-run and felony failure to register as a sex offender.

Syvrud is listed on the Wisconsin Department of Corrections sex offender registry for "second-degree sexual assault of a child" with an Arizona address.

The sheriff's office posted on Facebook that Syvrud was being sought "as an investigative lead for threats to kill a presidential candidate," but did not elaborate. Fox News Digital later confirmed that the "presidential candidate" was Trump, so it stands to reason that this sex offending, DUI scumbag is, you guessed it, a Democrat.

Additional charges against the Democrat are pending.

As far as we know, there are no known ties to the Butler County, PA scumcrumpet, Thomas Crooks, other than they both are likely Democrats.

Trump is visiting the southern border in Cochise County, Arizona, on Thursday as part of his ongoing campaign for the upcoming November election. This week, he's been focusing on battleground states.

During a press conference on Thursday afternoon, Trump seemed unaware of the ongoing manhunt when questioned about it. He acknowledged that it might be "dangerous" for him to be there but added, "I have a job to do."

"I haven't heard about that. They probably want to keep it from me," Trump said, when asked about the manhunt. "Thank you for telling me. Let's get out of here, right now!" Trump joked. He thanked the reporter for telling him about it.

Trump then shifted his remarks to the assassination attempt in Butler, expressing his "great respect for the Secret Service" for their actions, stating they "jumped on top of me with bullets flying."

"I have great respect, but no, I haven't heard about that," Trump said, referring to the ongoing manhunt. "I'm not that surprised. And the reason is because I want to do things that are very bad for the bad guys."
The U.S. Secret Service told Fox News Digital it is aware of and tracking the manhunt in Arizona and referred all further inquiries to the Cochise County Sheriff's Office for further comments, including potential ties to Butler.

But now they got him and for now Syvrud will remain in custody and be closely questioned about the threat he made as well as the other legal problems he is facing.

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Pakistani national tied to Iran tried to have Trump and other US politicians killed: feds

A Pakistani immigrant with Iranian ties plotted to hire hitmen to assassinate former President and current GOP candidate for President, Donald J. Trump along with other US politicians, sources and a federal criminal complaint state.

Asif Merchant, 46, [no relation known of Judge Juan Merchan] is accused of planning political assassinations in New York City in August or early September. He allegedly paid men who he thought were contract killers advance money of $5,000, according to US for the Eastern District of New York Breon Peace.

Donald Trump was one of several current and former US government officials who are thought to be the targets of the plot, a source familiar with the investigation to the New York Post. 

It is not known whether Merchant was working for the Secret Service, but nothing seems far-fetched anymore.

Anyway, Asif Merchant had been charged in connection with a failed assassination plot against former president Trump.

Merchant traveled to New York in June ostensibly to meet with the "hitmen" who were actually undercover law enforcement officers. He told them he was arranging the money with an overseas contact, the US Attorney's office said.

Several days later, he came up with the advanced payment and allegedly told the undercover agents that they were to go forward with the assassination plot, prosecutors said.

On July 12, as he was preparing to leave the United States, he was arrested. He revealed that his lovely wife and beautiful children live in Iran, and his other lovely wife and other beautiful children live in Pakistan, prosecutors reported.

One of Merchant’s homes is in the Iranian capital of Tehran, where he and one of his beautiful wives live. 

Merchant’s alleged Iran-backed plot played a role in the Secret Service agreeing to bolster former president Donald Trump’s security detail before the July assassination attempt, sources told The Post, otherwise they would have allowed other dangerously slanted rooftops to go unprotected.

Authorities claim that the Iranian-tied plot is unrelated to the attempt on Trump’s life by Thomas Crooks, who opened fire from a roof top in Butler, Pennsylvania, hitting Trump in his right ear but killing Corey Competoratore and wounding two other men. 

Where is Alex Jones when you want to hear from him?

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Now we know who had rooftop responsibility at Trump rally

We now have more information about the assassination attempt of former President and current GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump that took place on July 13, in Butler, PA. 

[H/T Townhall.com]

Corey Comperatore was killed by the shooter and two other men, David Dutch and James Copenhaven were wounded. The shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks was killed from a nearby rooftop perch,  where he fired off eight rounds toward President Trump. 

Both Butler police and the Secret Service have been leaking details to clarify and to head off any blame game at the pass should a departmental war erupt.

 The American Glass Research building from where Crooks targeted Trump was less than 200 yards from the stage. The roof was left unprotected, allowing Crooks to climb up the structure and do what he came for. Everyone knows how close the bullet came from killing the former president, missing his head by millimeters and hitting him in the right ear when he turned his head at exactly the moment the bullet was fired.

New evidence suggests, the local cops were supposedly told by the Secret Service that they would handle covering this structure (via WSJ):

Local Pennsylvania police complained in the moments after last month’s attempted assassination of Donald Trump that they warned the U.S. Secret Service days in advance that the warehouse where the shooter was positioned needed protection, according to new videos obtained by The Wall Street Journal.

“I f—ing told them that they needed to post guys f—ing over here…I told them that f—ing Tuesday,” said a Butler Township officer in audio captured on his body-worn camera. “I talked to the Secret Service guys. They’re like, ‘Yeah, no problem. We’re going to post guys over here.’ ”

The video footage paints a more complete picture of the angry, frustrating situation, literally moments after Thomas Matthew Crooks was able to fire those eight shots at Trump from an AR-style rifle.

A cop in one of the videos at one point refers to a suspicious individual who had been lost by authorities. The unidentified officer referred to “a gentleman with a flat face that we were looking for earlier. He was creeping people out.”

The officer’s account was broadcast over radio and was captured on one of the body cameras. “He was watching people out in the woods by the water tower. I’m not sure he is the gentleman down or not.”

About 10 minutes after the shooting, another officer, arriving at the warehouse, said to a fellow officer, “I thought you guys were on the roof. I thought it was you. I thought it was you.”

“No,” came the reply, with an explanation that no officers were on the roof.

“What the f—k,” the officer replied in frustration. “Why were we not on the roof? Why weren’t we?”

Federal law enforcement officials said that the Secret Service thought local law enforcement officers, including snipers from the Butler County Emergency Services Unit, were supposed to secure the building from which Crooks fired.

Local SWAT teams had photos and a description of Crooks before his attack, which they shared on their radio system. However, the Secret Service couldn't access this with their equipment.

Leaked text messages revealed that law enforcement knew about Crooks nearly 100 minutes before the assassination attempt but didn’t act to stop him. This shows that the $3.6 billion agency, which is supposed to protect current and former presidents, was behind the 20-year-old attacker. Secret Service snipers reportedly didn’t know Crooks was armed until he started shooting, even though they had their sights on him for almost two minutes before the attack.

Butler SWAT teams allege they had zero contact with the Secret Service until after the shots were fired and Crooks was killed. They also took responsibility for failing to protect Trump, along with the death of Corey Comperatore, and the two others who were wounded.

So it was the Secret Service who had the responsibility of the rooftop, and they blew it. Was it on purpose or due to incompetence?

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