WASHINGTON — A year after surviving a near-fatal assassination attempt at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, President Donald Trump said he is “satisfied” with the investigation’s findings, but sharply criticized lapses by those tasked with his protection.
Speaking to Fox News in an interview, Trump confirmed that both the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Secret Service had thoroughly briefed him on the July 2024 incident, and that he was “satisfied” with the outcome of the inquiry. However, he did not shy away from pointing out what he deemed “clear mistakes” by federal security teams.
“They should have assigned someone to the building from which the shooting was conducted. They should have maintained better communication with the local police,” Trump said, referring to the structure the gunman used to fire at him during the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Three paragraphs into the conversation, Trump pivoted to praise the unnamed federal sniper who fatally neutralized the gunman within five seconds of the first shot.
“Our sniper was able to hit him from a long distance with one shot in less than five seconds. If he hadn’t done that, the situation would have been much worse,” he said, emphasizing the swiftness of the response.
According to earlier statements by Secret Service Deputy Chief Matt Quinn, six agents who were assigned to Trump’s security detail during the Butler rally were later suspended. Their disciplinary periods ranged from 10 to 42 days. Upon their return, they were reassigned to roles with significantly reduced responsibility and lower operational risk.
The Butler incident was the first of two known assassination attempts on Donald Trump in 2024, a year marked by heightened political tensions and security concerns surrounding the election. In the July attack, a sniper’s bullet grazed Trump’s ear onstage, forcing an abrupt evacuation and triggering a rapid response by law enforcement. The shooter was killed on-site.
In the second incident, a radical supporter of Ukraine aid opened fire near Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida. That attacker was apprehended before reaching the premises, but the back-to-back attempts raised urgent questions about the integrity of domestic political security.
In December 2024, a congressional report spanning nearly 180 pages concluded that the attempted assassination in Butler was “preventable,” citing serious deficiencies in the planning and execution of security protocols. The findings pointed to miscommunication between federal protection teams and local law enforcement, as well as inadequate rooftop surveillance and threat monitoring. While the report avoided attributing direct blame to any individual, it described a pattern of procedural failure that left critical vulnerabilities exposed just days before the rally.
Despite the severity of the findings, Trump has maintained a cautious tone, praising individual agents and investigators while refusing to let top officials off the hook.
“Just about four seconds, and that’s when it all stopped,” he said. “He got him perfectly from a very long distance. So, we got a little bit lucky in that regard.”
The Washington Post’s recent coverage reveals a comprehensive FBI investigation into the shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, and his motivations, but makes no mention of June 2024 chatter directed at Trump that was suppressed or withheld from the Secret Service.
A September 2024 Washington Post feature detailed Secret Service communication breakdowns, rooftop oversight, and threat coordination failures, but again, no mention of early June chatter indicators that went unreported .
The assassination attempt occurred in July 2024, when a sniper fired at Trump during a campaign event in Butler, grazing his ear. The attacker was killed on the spot by a counter-sniper. The Secret Service later described the attack as a “catastrophic failure of communication and threat assessment,” as reported by Politico.
“The American people deserve to know how a sitting president could come within inches of death, twice, and still have no structural reform in place a year later,” the aide said.
Trump’s comments now add pressure on Congress and the intelligence community to provide transparency ahead of the 2025 presidential debates, which are expected to draw significant public attention and heightened security threats.
For now, Trump has chosen to center his narrative on resilience and survival. His campaign has even circulated a short documentary highlighting the Butler attack, branding it as proof of his determination to “face threats and stand firm.”
