Investigations by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) have reportedly exposed the U.S. Secret Service for providing 12 “post-standing” agents for First Lady Jill Biden while only providing three “post-standing” agents for former President Donald Trump, as well as multiple other security failures.
Susan Crabtree, a Real Clear Politics correspondent, reported that the investigations coordinated by Grassley and Johnson have revealed that the Secret Service did not have communication coordinated with local law enforcement officers and that only three “post standing” Secret Service agents were present at Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, where the former president was shot in the ear by would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks.
In a report on Grassley’s letter to Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle, who announced her resignation on Tuesday, Crabtree noted that the Secret Service’s middle perimeter is known as “post standing.”
“My office has received legally protected whistleblower disclosures that include records of communications between and among Secret Service personnel,” Grassley wrote in his letter to Cheatle over the weekend. “The records include communications from July 11, 2024, that show First Lady Jill Biden received 12 Secret Service personnel for ‘post standing’ for her event in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on July 13, 2024.”
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Grassley added, “Those same communications show that former President Trump received three Secret Service personnel for ‘post standing’ for his event in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13, 2024.”
In addition to Grassley’s accusation, Johnson criticized the Secret Service over multiple security failures in the assassination attempt against Trump.
Johnson claimed that his office’s investigation revealed that the Secret Service did not attend a security briefing with SWAT and sniper teams on July 13. The senator noted that law enforcement officials said communications were “siloed,” that local officials were “not in frequent radio contact” with the Secret Service, and that local law enforcement officials “notified command about Crooks prior to the shooting and received confirmation that Secret Service was are of the notification.”
Johnson also cited local law enforcement officials, who said the Secret Service was not originally planning to send snipers to Trump’s rally in Pennsylvania.
