Washington, September 21 (IANS) The US Secret Service has admitted to failing in the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump on July 13. One person was killed and several others were injured in this attack at a rally in Pennsylvania.
The agency’s internal review report on Friday revealed that the attacker had flown a drone over the rally site hours before the incident but agents had failed to use technology that could have helped identify the attacker, Xinhua news agency reported.
The report raised questions about the coordination of the Secret Service’s advance team with state and local agencies before the attack.
According to the report, the Secret Service, which is responsible for overseeing Trump’s security, failed to instruct a local police sniper to secure a nearby rooftop.
After this attack on Trump, Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned amid widespread outrage over the agency’s role. However, before this, in a congressional hearing, many lawmakers had asked her why the agency failed to secure the roof.
In a news briefing on Friday, acting director Ronald Rowe cited a “lack of clarity” from the Secret Service in security planning for Trump’s rally.
“It’s important that we hold ourselves accountable for the failures of July 13 and use the lessons learned so we don’t fail again,” Rowe said.
Two months after this incident, Trump had to face such circumstances again on Sunday at a golf course in Florida. During this, a person was arrested on charges of attacking the former president. This happened when Secret Service agents saw the barrel of a rifle in the bushes. However, Trump did not suffer any harm in this incident.
Just days after a second assassination attempt, the US House of Representatives on Friday unanimously approved a bill aimed at enhancing Secret Service protection for presidential and vice presidential candidates.
–IANS
MK/KR
