When former President Donald Trump took the stage once again Saturday in Butler, Pennsylvania, the security apparatus around the GOP nominee looked starkly different from the day of the first assassination attempt against him, when he took cover behind his podium as a gunman opened fire.
Secret Service and the second Butler rally
U.S. Secret Service personnel were stationed both inside and outside of the secure perimeter. That area includes the roof of a glass company warehouse where investigators say 20-year-old Thomas Crooks fired off eight rounds on July 13, grazing Trump’s ear, killing one attendee and injuring two others.
“Since the attempted assassination of former President Trump on July 13, the U.S. Secret Service has made comprehensive changes and enhancements to our communications capabilities, resourcing, and protective operations,” U.S. Secret Service spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi said in a statement. “Today, the former President is receiving heightened protection and we take the responsibility to ensure his safety and security very seriously.”
Federal law enforcement and local police began planning for Trump’s return to Butler roughly two weeks ago, multiple law enforcement officials told CBS News. The first in-person planning meeting with local law enforcement took place earlier this week, on Monday.
“Regarding the October 5 event in Butler, we are coordinating closely with the Pennsylvania State Police as well as local law enforcement in and around Butler Township,” Guglielmi added. “We are also leveraging other federal security resources to expand personnel and technology.”
Those federal resources included agents from the Department of Homeland Security’s Homeland Security Investigations, who stood post inside and outside the security perimeter. TSA agents worked the magnetometers along the perimeter of the site, according to law enforcement sources.
And while the 45th president’s security footprint included more personnel and assets — complete with counter sniper teams, enhanced counter drone technology and counter assault teams — there were also additional Pennsylvania State Police officers on site, with tactical team members blended alongside U.S. Secret Service teams throughout the event.
Senate report on Secret Service and Trump Butler rally
Last month, an interim Senate report identified planning, communications and security failures in the U.S. Secret Service’s efforts during former President Donald Trump’s July rally that “directly contributed” to the assassination attempt against him.
The joint investigation of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations indicated that several Secret Service officials experienced chronic problems with their radios on July 13. In one notable instance, a Secret Service countersniper was offered a local radio to help with communications throughout the day, but he didn’t have time to pick it up because he was working on “fixing” his own Secret Service radio. Because of failures of radios on site in Butler, the special agent in charge gave away his radio to a lead advance agent and went without one for the rest of the day, the report said.
Trump’s detail now travels with a radio communications specialist from the U.S. Secret Service’s Office of the Chief Information Officer, whose primary purpose is to share real-time information with Trump’s team, as relayed on all law enforcement radio channels, according to multiple law enforcement sources.
Addressing Butler rally site vulnerabilities
A number of tall buildings lining the perimeter of the Butler Farm Show create line-of-sight vulnerabilities for Trump. The Secret Service mitigated that threat with stage enhancements, rows of farm vehicles parked around the rally site and bulletproof glass, according to the sources.
Unlike the July 13 rally, members of the U.S. Secret Service, Pennsylvania State Police and Butler County Police sat together in a unified command post.
Trump in Butler amid assassination threats from Iran
The two attempts on Trump’s life followed the arrest of a Pakistani national with ties to Iran, charged with allegedly plotting a murder-for-hire scheme targeting current and former U.S. officials, including Trump.
Matthew Olsen, head of the Department of Justice’s National Security Division, said in an interview with CBS News Thursday that the U.S. government has been “intensely tracking Iranian lethal plotting efforts targeting former and current U.S. government officials — and that includes the former president.”
Olsen added, “I would say that we are very concerned — gravely concerned — about Iranian plotting.” Last month, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence briefed Trump on “real and specific threats from Iran to assassinate him.”
“I think we’ve been very, very clear that that is a threat vector that we are extremely concerned about monitoring very closely, working to gain as much information and fidelity on as we possibly can,” a senior DHS official told CBS News in a reporter briefing, Wednesday. “That is a U.S. government-wide effort to involve all of our partners across the United States government.”
A Homeland Threat Assessment released by the Department of Homeland Security Wednesday stated that Iran “maintains its intent to kill US government officials it deems responsible for the 2020 death of its Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC)-Quds Force Commander and designated foreign terrorist Qassem Soleimani,” an action carried out during the Trump administration.
“It is no secret that this is a challenge we are confronting on a daily basis right now,” the DHS senior official added.
Authorities anticipate roughly 25,000-30,000 will be attending the rally Saturday.
Nikole Killion, Daniel Klaidman, Clare Hymes, and Michael Kaplan contributed reporting.
Michael Kaplan,
Daniel Klaidman,
Nikole Killion and
contributed to this report.
