OAN Staff Abril Elfi
10:49 AM – Thursday, July 10, 2025
Six U.S. Secret Service (USSS) agents have been suspended without pay for failures related to last year’s assassination attempt against President Donald Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Secret Service Deputy Director Matt Quinn told CBS News on Wednesday that the suspensions affected supervisors and line-level agents, ranging from “10 to 42 days without pay.”
Quinn said that the agents will not be fired. However, upon their return to work, the agents will be placed in roles with diminished operational responsibility.
“We aren’t going to fire our way out of this,” Quinn told the outlet. “We’re going to focus on the root cause and fix the deficiencies that put us in that situation.”
The U.S. Secret Service faced backlash after a disturbed 20-year-old man attempted to assassinate Trump at his Pennsylvania rally on July 13, 2024. Thomas Matthew Crooks, who failed to kill Trump but still grazed his right ear, was killed seconds after by a USSS counter sniper. The GOP president luckily only suffered minor injuries as well, being rushed to a local hospital soon after the incident.
Corey Comperatore, a 50-year-old firefighter, father, and husband attending the rally, was killed in Crook’s crossfire. Additionally, two other men were rushed to the hospital after being hit in the crossfire as well — though they survived the incident and were eventually released.
“The Secret Service is totally accountable for Butler,” Quinn said to CBS. “Butler was an operational failure and we are focused today on ensuring that it never happens again.”
He also stated that the agency is now focusing on the “root cause” of the operational failure, while addressing “the deficiencies that put us in that situation.”
Since the Butler rally, Quinn stated that the Secret Service has deployed a new fleet of military-grade drones and mobile command posts to boost radio contacts with local law police.
Weeks later, when a second failed assassination attempt on Trump occurred in West Palm Beach, Florida, the CIA received additional criticism. Then-Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle ended up resigning, and the agency was subjected to many inquiries and congressional hearings.
In December, a bipartisan House task group issued a 180-page report concluding that the Butler incident was “preventable,” noting “preexisting” leadership and training shortcomings “created an environment” conducive to security failures.
In the report, lawmakers also noted that the Secret Service did not work properly with local law enforcement.
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