Secret Service Suspends 6 Agents Over Trump Assassination Attempt in Butler, PA: ‘Operational Failure’

(AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

The Secret Service suspended six agents without pay on Wednesday in a move acknowledging critical security failures during last year’s assassination attempt on President Donald Trump at a 2024 campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

The decision, confirmed by Deputy Director Matt Quinn in an exclusive interview with CBS News, comes nearly a year after a gunman opened fire as Trump spoke, grazing the president’s ear and killing one attendee.

Two others were wounded before the shooter, 20-year-old Thomas Crooks, was fatally shot by a Secret Service sniper.

Quinn described the suspensions, which ranged from 10 to 42 days, as part of a broader reckoning inside the agency.

“We aren’t going to fire our way out of this,” he told CBS News. “We’re going to focus on the root cause and fix the deficiencies that put us in that situation.”

He added: “We are laser-focused on fixing the root cause of the problem.”

After the initial suspension, each of the six agents will be moved to less critical roles. According to Quinn, the agency has since deployed military-grade drones and new mobile command units that ensure direct radio contact with local law enforcement, part of a protocol for “interoperability that didn’t exist last year.”

The Butler situation, as well as a separate foiled attempt weeks later in Florida, shook public confidence and prompted the resignation of then-Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle.

A scathing 180-page congressional report published in December concluded the attack was “tragic and preventable,” and stemmed from “preexisting issues in leadership and training.”

In a blistering assessment, lawmakers warned that inexperienced personnel had been placed in key planning roles, and pointed to “a lack of coordination and planning” with outside agencies.

“Secret Service is totally accountable for Butler,” he said. “Butler was an operational failure.”