Lawmakers have reportedly spoken to whistleblowers who confirmed that the agents assigned to former President Donald Trump’s security detail at the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, the day he was shot were “egregiously unprepared,” and had only received a two-hour “online training.”
These revelations came from Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), who reportedly spoke with several whistleblowers about the serious lapse in security during the assassination attempt against Trump.
According to Hawley, Homeland Security personnel were “thrown onto Trump’s protective detail” for the July 13 rally “with nothing more than a 2hr online training.”
Hawley made the remarks in a Fox News interview posted to X, during which he pointed out that the agents that were supposed to protect Trump that day were not trained or qualified.
“Think about this: This former president of the US…is sent out on stage, most of the people there are not trained, they’re not qualified. They only got a webinar training and even that didn’t work,” he said.
The agents assigned to President Trump in Butler PA were pulled off child exploitation cases and thrown onto Trump’s protective detail with nothing more than a 2hr online training. And we know this ONLY because of brave whistleblowers pic.twitter.com/m8CY5eqmUl
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) September 4, 2024
Hawley’s comments came after he had sent a letter to Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe on Tuesday, in which he described new whistleblower allegations about the Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents tasked with guarding Trump that day — noting that these allegations “suggest that a significant number of personnel tasked with providing security for former President Trump at the July 13 rally were egregiously under-prepared by the Secret Service to carry out this mission.”
“When Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents partner with the Secret Service, they should be properly trained. New whistleblower allegations contend that this isn’t happening,” Hawley’s letter continued.
🚨🚨NEW – My letter to Secret Service Director Rowe detailing new whistleblower allegations that Homeland Security agents working the Butler Trump rally received only “webinar” training beforehand pic.twitter.com/KQZbgDf7Rs
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) September 4, 2024
He then explained allegations from a whistleblower who had informed him that “the only training received by many HSI agents reassigned to work protective details is a two-hour webinar on Microsoft Teams featuring pre-recorded videos.”
“Imagine 1,000 people logging onto Microsoft Teams at the same time after being informed at the last minute that everyone needed to login individually,” the whistleblower explained, according to Hawley. “Once it got rolling, the Secret Service instructor couldn’t figure out how to get the audio working on the prerecorded videos (which I’m told are the same videos as last year). All told, they restarted the videos approximately six times …. The content was not helpful.”
Hawley’s letter went on to note that “these latest whistleblower allegations contend HSI agents were pulled off child exploitation cases in order to serve on protective details for which they were unprepared.”
Even more shocking is the federal government’s lack of reform following the assassination attempt, with Hawley explaining that the whistleblower had confirmed there were no security training improvements since the July 13 incident.
“Nothing new, nothing improved since the assassination attempt on former President Trump,” the whistleblower told Hawley.
The Republican senator concluded by demanding that Rowe provide lawmakers with details as to how many HSI agents were on the scene at the rally, and how many of those agents were only trained via the webinar. He also demanded that the acting Secret Service director hand over specific curriculum and training materials for Congress to review as part of their ongoing investigation into the Secret Service’s handling of the rally security.
This is Rico Elmore
He is a Veteran & spoke at Trump’s rally
After Trump and Corey Comperatore were shot, he provided first aid to Corey and escorted members of his family to the ambulance
He then returned, covered in Corey’s blood, to help Secret Service carry off another… pic.twitter.com/ZiMMf73LlJ
— DC_Draino (@DC_Draino) July 15, 2024
