Secret Service turned down local drone ‘repeatedly’ ahead of Trump July 13 rally: whistleblower
The Secret Service turned down offers to fly a drone above former President Donald Trump's Pennsylvania campaign rally before a would-be assassin opened fire.
Local law enforcement repeatedly offered to provide drone coverage in the sky above former President Donald Trump’s July 13 campaign rally – where he survived a failed assassination attempt – but was rebuffed by the U.S. Secret Service, according to Sen. Josh Hawley, citing a new whistleblower.
"According to one whistleblower, the night before the rally, U.S. Secret Service repeatedly denied offers from a local law enforcement partner to utilize drone technology to secure the rally," Hawley, a Missouri Republican and member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, wrote in a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
"This means that the technology was both available to USSS and able to be deployed to secure the site. Secret Service said no."
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FBI Director Christopher Wray, whose agency has taken a lead role in the investigation, confirmed during a congressional hearing this week that the would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, flew a drone of his own overhead before Trump took the stage.
"This raises an obvious question: why was the U.S. Secret Service (USSS) not using its own drones?" Hawley wrote.
The USSS did not ask for local partners to fly their drones until after the shooting was over and a counter-sniper took down the gunman, according to the whistleblower.
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"The whistleblower further alleges that after the shooting took place, USSS changed course and asked the local partner to deploy the drone technology to surveil the site in the aftermath of the attack," Hawley wrote.
The senator asked Mayorkas to hand over all DHS communications regarding drone coverage for the rally as part of a congressional investigation into the security failure that allowed an armed man within 150 yards of the former president.
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"It is hard to understand why USSS would decline to use drones when they were offered, particularly given the fact USSS permitted the shooter to overfly the rally area with his own drone mere hours before event," he wrote. "The failure to deploy drone technology is all the more concerning since, according to the whistleblower, the drones USSS was offered had the capability not only to identify active shooters but also to help neutralize them."
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Crooks struck at least four people with AR-15 fire from the rooftop, killing a 50-year-old father of two named Corey Comperatore and seriously wounding David Dutch, 57, and James Copenhaver, 74. Trump later said he had been shot in the right ear, and photos from the scene showed him getting back to his feet after ducking for cover with blood on the right side of his head.
Crooks is believed to have cased out the rally venue in advance of the attack and arrived with multiple explosive devices that authorities recovered from his vehicle.
It's not surprising that local authorities were turned down regarding their drone, said Bill Gage, a retired Secret Service agent and a consultant at Safehaven Security Group.
"That whistleblower is gonna be local law enforcement, and USSS would never allow a non-USSS drone," the expert on active shooter response told Fox News Digital.
There are "too many issues," he said, including drone specifications, federal flight rules and training for both the operator and the spotter.
"There needs to be a serious rethinking of the protective model that the USSS uses," he said. "The model is sound and proven, but how local assets fit in needs to be reassessed."
Previous whistleblowers have also approached Hawley's office with details about the event – including an explanation for why the rooftop Crooks accessed before opening fire had been unmanned.
An officer assigned to the rooftop allegedly abandoned it due to high heat.
Following congressional testimony on the matter, U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned.