DHS Inspector General finds Secret Service missed 102 radio calls before Butler shooting

Summary

A Department of Homeland Security Inspector General report released this week lays out a cascade of communication failures that preceded the July 2024 assassination attempt on Donald Trump at a Butler, Pennsylvania campaign rally. Local law enforcement made 102 separate radio calls about the would-be shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, as he lurked near and ultimately climbed onto a rooftop with a clear line of fire toward the stage. The Secret Service missed every one of them. On top of that, the IG found the agency had a two-minute warning before the shots were fired and still did not act in time to stop Crooks from getting off a burst that killed one rallygoer, injured two others, and grazed Trump's ear. It is being described as scathing in its assessment of the agency's operational readiness. The Butler attack had already prompted congressional hearings, the resignation of Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle, and a separate Senate task force inquiry, but this IG finding adds a new and specific layer of documented failure: 102 chances to intercept the shooter, all missed. The question now before the agency and its congressional overseers is how a multi-layered radio network between federal and local officers produced zero actionable communication in real time.