WASHINGTON – On Thursday, local and state law enforcement officials informed lawmakers about the failures of the Secret Service to secure the area during a rally where former President Donald Trump faced an assassination attempt in Pennsylvania last July.

The officials explained that there was no strategy to secure the building from which the gunman had a clear view of Trump’s speaking location. Despite local police expressing concerns about a suspicious individual, Secret Service officials permitted Trump to go on stage.

“This was not an isolated incident that allowed (Thomas Matthew) Crooks to evade one of our nation’s top security teams,” remarked task force chairman Mike Kelly, R-Pa. He indicated that the Secret Service failed to create a comprehensive security plan with local law enforcement, did not secure the grounds appropriately, and lacked effective communication during critical moments.

“Collectively, these shortcomings resulted in a chaotic security environment that led to the death of Mr. Comperatore, injuries to two others, and put the former president in serious danger.”

During the attack, Trump was grazed by a bullet that clipped part of his right ear, while Pennsylvania firefighter Corey Comperatore died as he attempted to protect his family. Two other individuals sustained injuries.

This hearing followed the release of a Senate committee’s investigative report on the July attack, which also noted that the Secret Service lacked a security plan for the building from which Crooks aimed at Trump. The report highlighted a lack of a clear command structure and other security failures at this event.

Moreover, this congressional hearing occurred a few weeks after another probable assassination attempt on the former president at his Florida golf club. The House task force has broadened its inquiry to include security shortcomings related to this recent attempt.

Edward Lenz, a commander of the Butler County Emergency Services Unit, stated that his team wasn’t instructed by the Secret Service to secure the shooter’s building or the surrounding area. Instead, police snipers were focusing on the audience who had already been screened.

Nevertheless, a local police officer noticed several suspicious individuals near the building and communicated these concerns to the officers on perimeter patrol, Lenz reported. Another sniper captured an image of the suspect aiming towards the stage using a rangefinder and shared it with local law enforcement and the Secret Service.

This timely information enabled the sniper to swiftly identify and neutralize the shooter when the shooting commenced, according to Lenz. Lawmakers questioned the decision to allow Trump to take the stage given the raised suspicions.

“The communication among the Secret Service and local and state law enforcement was fragmented and unclear,” stated Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo, the ranking member. “The Secret Service needs to improve.”

Local law enforcement faced difficulty communicating with the Secret Service before the shooting due to lack of radio connection, according to area officials. Rep. Glenn Ivey, D-Md., criticized the communication strategy as being “spur-of-the-moment.”

Patrick Sullivan, a retired Secret Service agent, expressed that the security lapses revealed are “shocking and infuriating.” He contended that the Secret Service should have stronger authority to obtain information from local law enforcement.

Testimonies to the committee were also given by Drew Blasko, an officer with the Butler Township Police Department, Lieutenant John Herold from the Pennsylvania State Police, and Allegheny County medical examiner Ariel Goldschmidt.

The hearing took place shortly after Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe published a five-page interim report acknowledging significant agency failures.

“This was a failure on the part of the United States Secret Service,” Rowe stated to the media on Friday. “It is crucial for us to take accountability for the failures of July 13 and to learn from these lessons to prevent similar incidents in the future.”

The events of the July shooting led to fierce scrutiny of the agency. Former Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned following harsh criticism from a bipartisan group of lawmakers during a House Oversight Committee meeting, where she acknowledged that the July 13 incident was the most significant security failure the agency had experienced in decades.

Some lawmakers claim that the agency is both understaffed and lacking resources, which contributed to the security failures over the summer. Congress recently allocated an extra $231 million in funding for the Secret Service as part of a stopgap funding measure approved earlier this week.