Five US Secret Service agents placed on leave after Trump assassination attempt failures

24 August 2024, 21:33

The US Secret Service has placed five agents on leave after the assassination attempt on Donald Trump last month, reports claim.

The agency, which is responsible for the personal protection of senior US officials, has come under criticism after a gunman hit the Republican candidate for President in the ear in Pennsylvania in July.

One agent on Trump's detail and three others in the agency's Pittsburgh office have been placed on leave, sources have told the Associated Press (AP).

One of the agents was responsible for the security planning ahead of the July 13 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, according to the law enforcement official who had direct knowledge of the matter.

The official was not authorised to publicly disclose details of the personnel investigation and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

The agents are on administrative leave, meaning they cannot do investigative or protective work.

Multiple investigations have been launched as officials probe a complicated law enforcement failure that allowed a man with an AR-style rifle to get close enough to shoot and injure Mr Trump at the rally.

The former president was struck in the ear but avoided serious injury.

One spectator was killed and two others were injured.

The shooting was a devastating failure of one of the agency’s core duties and led to the resignation of the Secret Service’s then-director, Kim Cheatle.

At a congressional hearing after the assassination attempt, Ms Cheatle acknowledged that the Secret Service was told about a suspicious person two to five times before the shooting.

She also revealed that the roof from which Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire had been identified as a potential vulnerability days before the rally.

Acting Secret Service director Ronald Rowe Jr, who took over after Ms Cheatle’s resignation, has said he “cannot defend why that roof was not better secured”.