Secret Service Rebuffed Drone Offers Before Trump Rally Assassination Attempt

Despite repeated offers from local law enforcement, the U.S. Secret Service allegedly declined to utilize drone technology to secure former President Donald Trump's July 13 rally, where he faced an assassination attempt.

According to a whistleblower, the U.S. Secret Service declined offers from a local law enforcement partner to utilize drone technology to secure a former President Donald Trump's July 13 campaign rally, where he survived a failed assassination attempt.

This information was revealed in a letter written by Sen. Josh Hawley, a Missouri Republican and member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. The whistleblower claims that Secret Service repeatedly denied the offers the night before the rally.

Secret Service Rebuffed Drone Offers Before Trump Rally Assassination Attempt

"This means that the technology was both available to USSS and able to be deployed to secure the site," Hawley wrote. "Secret Service said no."

FBI Director Christopher Wray confirmed that the would-be assassin, Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, flew a drone of his own overhead before Trump took the stage. This raises the question of why the U.S. Secret Service was not using drones at the event.

Secret Service Rebuffed Drone Offers Before Trump Rally Assassination Attempt

Hawley pointed out that the Secret Service did not ask for local partners to fly their drones until after the shooting was over.

The whistleblower also alleges that the Secret Service changed course after the shooting and asked the local partner to deploy drone technology to surveil the site.

Secret Service Rebuffed Drone Offers Before Trump Rally Assassination Attempt

Hawley has requested that Mayorkas hand over all DHS communications regarding drone coverage for the rally as part of a congressional investigation into the security failure.

"It is hard to understand why USSS would decline to use drones when they were offered, particularly given the fact USSS permitted the shooter to overfly the rally area with his own drone mere hours before the event," Hawley wrote.

Secret Service Rebuffed Drone Offers Before Trump Rally Assassination Attempt

Crooks struck at least four people with AR-15 fire from a rooftop, killing a 50-year-old father of two named Corey Comperatore and seriously wounding David Dutch, 57, and James Copenhaver, 74.

Retired Secret Service agent Bill Gage believes it's not surprising that local authorities were turned down regarding their drone.

Secret Service Rebuffed Drone Offers Before Trump Rally Assassination Attempt

"That whistleblower is gonna be local law enforcement, and USSS would never allow a non-USSS drone," he said.

Gage, an expert on active shooter response, cited drone specifications, federal flight rules, and operator training as reasons for the Secret Service's decision.

Secret Service Rebuffed Drone Offers Before Trump Rally Assassination Attempt

"There needs to be a serious rethinking of the protective model that the USSS uses," Gage said.

Hawley's office has received information from previous whistleblowers regarding the event, including an explanation for why the rooftop that Crooks accessed before opening fire had been unmanned.

Secret Service Rebuffed Drone Offers Before Trump Rally Assassination Attempt

An officer assigned to the rooftop allegedly abandoned it due to high heat. This incident led to the resignation of then-U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle following congressional testimony on the matter.