Six Secret Service agents have been quietly suspended for up to six weeks without pay after last summer’s shocking assassination attempt on President Donald Trump at a Pennsylvania rally. The disciplinary action — confirmed just ahead of a Senate report detailing what went wrong — highlights deep problems inside the agency tasked with protecting America’s leaders.
The suspensions, which hit both supervisors and rank-and-file agents, ranged from 10 to 42 days. But no one was fired. Instead, the Secret Service says the Butler rally failure was a breakdown of the entire system, not just a handful of individuals.
“We weren’t going to fire our way out of this,” Deputy Director Matt Quinn told CBS News this week. He said the suspended agents returned to work in lower-risk roles and that the agency is “laser focused” on fixing the root problems that allowed a gunman to open fire just yards from Trump.
The Butler tragedy still haunts the Secret Service. Corey Comperatore, a father and firefighter, was killed shielding others when gunman Thomas Crooks fired onto the stage on July 13, 2024. Trump survived with a grazed ear, and two others were wounded before a sniper killed Crooks.
A separate House report last December slammed the Secret Service’s poor planning and lack of coordination with local police, calling the attack “preventable.” To prevent another breach, the agency has since deployed military-grade drones and mobile command posts to enhance security and improve communication.
Still, the Butler failure wasn’t the last scare. Just weeks later, a second assassination attempt in Florida triggered the resignation of Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle and a wave of congressional hearings.
One thing’s clear: America’s protectors have no room for a repeat.
