Trump assassination attempt likely result of security "breakdown," former Secret Service supervisor says
BOSTON – A former deputy assistant director with the United States Secret Service, said he believes there were logistical breakdowns that allowed an assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump during a rally in Pennsylvania.
Dr. Ron Layton oversaw presidential details during his time at the Secret Service. After seeing Trump grazed by a bullet and another man killed during the Saturday campaign event in Butler, Pennsylvania, Layton said his first reaction was shock.
"What immediately stood out is, how could this happen?" Layton told WBZ-TV. "The Secret Service generally governs protective operations with two lines of effort. No. 1 is the advance, and that's 90% of what makes a visit successful. And No. 2 it's the management of the day of the visit. The advance portion is what the American public generally does not see. The day of the visit is what the general public does see. My initial reaction was just shock, and then later anger at how this could have happened."
How much protection do former presidents receive?
President Biden has ordered an independent review of the rally's security measures to figure out what went wrong. The FBI director said they will leave no stone unturned.
Layton said former presidents do not receive the same staffing level as the current president.
Investigators have said Trump's Secret Service detail was given additional assets because he is the presumptive Republican nominee. That meant there was more manpower, counter-snipers, drones and robotic dogs, a law enforcement official told CBS News.
"One of the things that I think clearly is going to come from the investigation is that the outer perimeter, the control mechanisms, there was a breakdown of communication, certainly a breakdown in allowing people to access things like high ground, which ultimately resulted in the actions that we all saw just tragically a few days ago," Layton said.
How was Trump rally shooter able to access roof?
The shooter, identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, was able to climb onto a roof about 125 yards from the stage where Trump was speaking.
"At this particular event, the shooter was 127 yards from the stage that contained Mr. Trump. So 127 yards is really not that large of a perimeter," Layton said. "What that tells me is that there just was an inadequate resourcing, or that the particular area was staffed and there was a breakdown where that post, that area was abandoned. I'm not saying abandoned purposely. I'm just simply saying something happened where that location was staffed, looked at, and then there was some deviation from the plan."
Did Secret Service miss spotting rally shooter?
Layton believes based on his experience that there was likely an oversight, and that allowed the shooter access to an area where he should not have been.
"There is no way that Secret Service counter sniper technicians who are among the highest trained shooters in the world would have missed that. And I don't think they did. They certainly did not miss it in terms of having it on their survey," Layton said. "What I think happened was there was an assignment. Someone assigned that, in terms of manning or posting or personnel that was supposed to be assigned there. And something happened in the breakdown where that simply was not done."
President Biden said on Sunday that results of the investigation into the shooting will be released to the public when it is completed.