Former President Donald Trump's campaign was forced to cancel events due to Secret Service failures before the assassination attempt on July 13, the Daily Caller reported. The campaign asked for extra protection but was routinely denied it because the agency claimed it didn't have the resources.
The world was stunned when suspected gunman Thomas Crooks shot Trump in the head at a Butler, Pennsylvania, outdoor rally. The former president was wounded in the ear, but aftermath has led to discussions about how the Secret Service and FBI failed to protect him.
Crooks was able to get off several shots despite being identified as a threat as much as an hour before pulling the trigger. Former Secret Service director Kimberly Cheatle, who resigned over her failures, said that nobody was on the roof where the gunman set up because it was "sloped."
Still, it now appears this was part of a larger pattern that sometimes forced Trump to cancel events and rallies. His team had asked for bomb-sniffing canines, specialty teams, and magnetometers but were routinely turned down due to lack of funding.
The Secret Service received news of credible threats against Trump's life just days before Crooks would open fire on Trump. Just ahead of a Doral, Florida, rally, the agency shared the information with the campaign, the Washington Post reported.
"The bad guys are at it again," an adviser recalled the Secret Service telling them. The Justice Department got involved and Trump received more protection than he normally would, and for good reason.
It was not long after that the FBI arrested a Pakistani national in a sting operation as the person was planning a murder-for-hire plot orchestrated by Iran. Still, it didn't stop Crooks, who has no known connection to any government or plot, from taking his shot at the former president.
Cheatle would mostly blame local law enforcement for the oversights that led to the shooting, but it's clear that the Secret Service wasn't up to the task despite the known threats. It plays into a broader debate about whether the agency is competent and properly equipped to do its job.
Notably, the agency has increased security for Trump since the shooting, including the use of bulletproof glass at his rallies. However, until the Secret Service takes full responsibility, the issues that led to this assassination attempt can't be properly addressed.
The Secret Service claims that it has difficulty doing its job because of the unique risks involved in protecting Trump. The former president likes to spend time at his golf courses, including his Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach, Florida, that doubles as a resort.
Trump likes to dine with customers and be among those who frequent his establishments. This presents a problem as those coming and going are not screened, and just about anyone can approach Trump.
One person who played at Trump's club in 2023 was surprised at how easy it was to get near the former president. "We were totally shocked we could just walk in the bar and sit down right next to him," the patron said.
"We didn’t go through mags; we didn’t do anything. We just finished our round, walked right over, sat next to him in the clubhouse, and had lunch. You could just walk over to his table. It was pretty surprising to all of us," the person recalled.
Protecting Trump is fraught with challenges, but the Secret Service should be able to overcome them. At the very least, the agency could have provided the extra measures Trump's team requested for his rallies. Had they done so, perhaps Crooks would have been stopped long before he ever made it to that roof.
A recent report highlights significant failures in the Secret Service's handling of the Capitol riot, revealing deeper issues within the agency, The Daily Caller reported.
The Department of Homeland Security's Inspector General has detailed the Secret Service's severe lapses during the January 6 Capitol riot, including a near-miss incident involving Vice President-elect Kamala Harris and an undetected pipe bomb.
On July 31, the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) released a report criticizing the Secret Service for inadequate preparation and coordination with other law enforcement agencies during the Capitol riot. This event marked one of the most significant breaches of security in recent U.S. history.
The report stemmed from a thorough investigation into the events surrounding January 6, 2021, when supporters of then-President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol. The chaos resulted in a dire security situation that was exacerbated by poor communication and coordination among federal agencies.
According to the OIG report, there were significant lapses in intelligence gathering and sharing, particularly concerning the potential threats that day. This included an overlooked intelligence packet that failed to reach the Secret Service, highlighting a communication breakdown.
Dean Peterson, a former Secret Service agent, expressed concerns about the agency’s readiness and the miscalculation of necessary manpower, which he attributed to both the Secret Service and the Capitol Police. "The bottom line that caused it all is, whether it’s a combination of the Capitol Police and the Secret Service or ultimately, the entity responsible for protection, were not prepared, or did not anticipate accurately, the necessary manpower," Peterson told the Caller.
This sentiment was echoed by other former agents who observed that the day's failures highlighted critical vulnerabilities within the agency’s structure and leadership. Michael Matranga, another former agent, criticized the 72-hour rule for deploying the Explosives Ordnance Disposal team as illogical, especially in urgent protection scenarios.
On the day of the riot, two pipe bombs were discovered near the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and the Republican National Committee (RNC). Alarmingly, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris came within 20 feet of one of the bombs at the DNC, underscoring the grave security risks that were not adequately addressed.
The Secret Service's Operations Unit’s failure to request immediate Explosive Ordnance Disposal support was heavily criticized. The purported requirement for a 72-hour advance notice hindered a swift response, even though there had been instances of last-minute approvals in the past.
"Regardless if it’s 72 hours or not, the job still needs to get done. If we’ve got a protectee that’s traveling to a location, the whole 72-hour thing, to me doesn’t make sense," Matranga emphasized in an interview with the Daily Caller.
The OIG report also noted a delayed deployment of additional officers to assist the Capitol Police. An email timed at 3:47 p.m. from the Secret Service claimed that 100 officers were dispatched to the Capitol with another 100 to follow. However, there was nearly an hour-and-a-half delay in their deployment, which was critical in the rapidly unfolding events.
Despite the agency's claim of full cooperation with the investigation and the implementation of most of the OIG's recommendations, the Secret Service rejected the proposal to develop protocols for providing emergency support during civil disturbances.
This decision has sparked further debate among law enforcement experts and former agency personnel about the necessity of revising current policies.
Intelligence and communication breakdowns were a recurring theme in the inspector general’s findings, indicating a need for the Secret Service to take on a more prominent role in intelligence sharing to prevent similar failures in the future.
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
A police department in the United Kingdom is paying a woman 13,000 British pounds, about $17,000, after catching her in silent prayer and then arresting her. Twice.
A report from ADF International explains the case is a victory against censorship.
It is Isabel Vaughan-Spruce – a Christian who twice already has been on viral videos being arrested for silent prayer – who is getting the payout from the West Midlands Police, to acknowledge her unjust treatment, and the breach of her human rights.
She had filed a claim against the department for two wrongful arrests and false imprisonments; assault and battery in relation to an intrusive search of her person; and for a breach of her human rights both in respect to the arrests, and to the onerous bail conditions imposed on her, the report explained.
"There is no place for Orwell's 'thought police' in 21st Century Britain, and thanks to legal support I received from ADF UK, I'm delighted that the settlement that I have received today acknowledges that. Yet despite this victory, I am deeply concerned that this violation could be repeated at the hands of other police forces," she said in a prepared statement.
The report noted the news comes only days after reports that the Home Office will strengthen the crackdown on silent prayer near abortion facilities by expressly criminalizing it in upcoming "buffer zones" legislation.
Lawmakers and bureaucrats in the U.K. are set to review the initial guidance published by the previous government which protected the human right to freedom of thought, reading: "Silent prayer, being the engagement of the mind and thought in prayer towards God, is protected as an absolute right under the Human Rights Act 1998 and should not, on its own, be considered to be an offence under any circumstances."
Vaughan-Spruce was first arrested in November 2022 for silently praying in a censored "buffer zone," a common practice also used in the United States to provide special protections for abortion businesses and deprive people of faith of their rights.
The zone, covering several streets in the Kings Norton area of Birmingham, was installed by local authorities via a Public Spaces Protection Order and banned all expressions of "approval or disapproval with respect to issues related to abortion services, by any means" within a large vicinity of an abortion facility, the report said.
Her arrests widely are considered to be prosecutions of "thoughtcrimes."
She was acquitted in February 2023, but just weeks later was arrested for the same offense again.
A police officer said at that time, "You've said you're engaging in prayer, which is the offense."
She added, "Silent prayer is not a crime. Nobody should be arrested merely for the thoughts they have in their heads – yet this happened to me twice at the hands of the West Midlands Police, who explicitly told me that 'prayer is an offense.'"
Lord Frost, the senior Conservative peer and former cabinet minister, said, "It is incredible that people have been arrested for thoughtcrime in modern Britain. I am very glad Ms Vaughan-Spruce has received compensation for her unjust arrest for this so-called offense."
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
JERUSALEM – South Tel Aviv was rocked by an explosion Sunday night in what police and the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) have now confirmed was an attempted terrorist attack involving "a powerful explosive device."
The incident took place at around 8 p.m. and the terrorist – who has yet to be named – is thought to be a 50-year-old man from the Samarian city of Nablus (known as Shechem in Hebrew). Sitting between the twin peaks of Mounts Gerizim and Ebal, the town is thought to be some 4,000 years old and is the site of Joseph's Tomb, after the Israelites returned his bones from Egypt and interred him in the Holy Land.
The terrorist – who is thought to have had an accomplice who transported him to Tel Aviv – was captured on CCTV wearing a backpack and walking past stores crowded with shoppers, and it was a miracle the only person wounded in the botched attack was a 33-year-old passerby riding on an electric scooter, who escaped with moderate injuries.
Ayalon District Police Commander Haim Bublil told Kan News Radio "it is possible the assailant planned to reach the nearby synagogue or perhaps the shopping center. We have no ability to understand why [the bomb] exploded at this point in time."
He added if the bomber had done so there would likely have been a scene of carnage with dozens of people either killed or wounded. Meanwhile, one worshiper at the synagogue said he decided to enter the building to participate in evening prayers at the last moment and would have been on the street in the radius of the blast if he had not decided to do so.
The Israel Police have requested Tel Avivians remain vigilant and are concerned about the prospect of potential copycat attacks. Hamas took responsibility for the attempted attack, saying it worked in collaboration with PIJ and threatened to carry out more.
Judea and Samaria is growing increasingly restive as different militant Arab factions squabble for supremacy in the region. Hamas, for example, has grown in influence and popularity, especially since Oct. 7.
The FBI arrested Washington, D.C. Council member Trayon White Sr. on Sunday on charges that at first seemed unclear, but later turned out to be for allegedly taking tens of thousands of dollars in bribes.
Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D) said that White was arrested around 2 p.m. and that he and the council had not known White was under investigation.
White was first elected in 2016 and represents Ward 8 in Southeast Washington.
“I’m anxious to get more details to understand what the situation is,” Mendelson told FOX 5. “You all know as much as I know.”
There were reports in March that White and his campaign owed over $80,000 in fines. At first, it was thought that he may have run afoul of the Fair Elections Program, a new initiative for public financing that has strict reporting requirements.
“The Washington City Paper reported last week that the D.C. Office of Campaign Finance levied a $20,000 fine against White and his campaign treasurer,” Fox 5 said in March. “On top of that, OCF says White owes nearly $59,000 in public funds he received through D.C.’s Fair Elections Program.”
“The Fair Elections Program is a relatively new program where candidates can be eligible for some public financing. If a candidate receives that money, though, It’s subject to a pretty thorough audit with reporting requirements,” the report added.
On Monday, however, The Washington Post reported that White is being charged with bribery charges and taking kickbacks for pressuring D.C. government employees to extend contracts that served at-risk youth.
The FBI said it has an informant and recorded conversations between White and the informant contractor, who dealt with White in the scheme.
White is accused of taking $156,000 in cash and trips to the Dominican Republic and Las Vegas.
“What you need me to do, man,” White told the informant in a recording after being given $15,000 in cash, according to the affidavit. “I don’t wanna feel like you gotta gimme something to get something. We better than that.”
But White took the cash, the affidavit said.
White will be arraigned Monday in front of a magistrate.
His campaign said he was going to give back $59,000, but did not address the bribery and kickback charges.
It's been over a month since Thomas Matthew Crooks fired a shot at former President Donald Trump at a Pennsylvania rally, nearly assassinating him.
In that time, multiple investigations have been opened, and fingers are still being pointed given the gravity of the situation and the fact that people want and deserve answers.
According to Fox News, Rep. Clay Higgins (R-LA) apparently triggered the FBI after he accused the agency of giving the suspect's body back to the family just over a week after the shooting.
Higgins is a member of a bipartisan investigation task force looking into how it was the Crooks was nearly able to kill President Trump at the Butler rally on July 13.
Higgins, in a preliminary finding, accused the FBI of mishandling the investigation, and said the agency handed the shooter's body back to his family just 10 days after the assassination attempt.
The FBI has vehemently denied such accusations.
Fox News noted:
The agency says it refutes allegations by Rep. Clay Higgins, R-La., who says that when he requested to view Crooks' body on Aug. 5, nobody on the ground in Butler knew it had been handed back to the suspect's family on July 23. Higgins said the revelation "caused quite a stir and revealed a disturbing fact."
Fox continued:
Higgins says the releasing of the body, and other claims of bad practice leveled at the FBI, amounts to an "obstruction to any following investigative effort."
In his report to the chairperson of the task force, Higgins wrote, "My effort to examine Crooks’ body on Monday, August 5, caused quite a stir and revealed a disturbing fact . . . the FBI released the body for cremation 10 days after J13 [July 13]."
He added, "Nobody knew this until Monday, August 5, including the County Coroner, law enforcement, Sheriff, etc," Higgins writes. "Yes, Butler County Coroner technically had legal authority over the body, but I spoke with the Coroner, and he would have never released Crooks’ body to the family for cremation or burial without specific permission from the FBI."
In a statement to Fox News, Higgins once again insisted that the FBI authorized the release of Crooks' body at that time.
"My report states the precise truth, which is that the coroner released Crooks body to the family for cremation only after the FBI had specifically authorized the coroner to release Crooks' body to the family for cremation," he said.
The Louisiana Republican expressed concerns that we'll never know "for sure if the coroner’s report and the autopsy report are accurate" given that the body was released so early for cremation.
Obviously, there are a mountain of questions that still need truthful answers. Hopefully, Higgins and others get to the bottom of what happened.
Former Republican Rep. George Santos has spent the past year denying wrongdoing as he faces almost two dozen federal charges related to campaign fraud.
According to NBC News, it was reported over the weekend that Santos will plead guilty this week to the charges in an effort to avoid potential serious jail time.
News of Santos taking a plea deal comes just shy of a month before his trial was set to begin.
Many believe he took the deal to not only avoid jail time, but to avoid and especially humiliating trial, given the charges he faces.
The former GOP lawmaker faces a number of serious charges. NBC Noted:
The disgraced former lawmaker faces a 23-count superseding indictment in the Eastern District of New York, including charges of wire fraud, aggravated identity theft and making materially false statements to the Federal Election Commission.
Santos was hit with the first round of charges in early 2023. As he made headlines at the time, Santos denied he was guilty before ultimately being ousted from Congress.
Santos had also previously pleaded not guilty to the original charges prior to the superseding federal indictment.
His career, which lasted less than one term, was already off to a shaky start as he was exposed before being elected for alleged lies and campaign-related fraud.
The former New York congressman was especially humiliated in December 2023 after a vast majority of his congressional colleagues voted to oust him from Congress over the scandal.
The Hill noted:
Federal prosecutors accused the former congressman of five criminal schemes: misleading campaign donors, charging their credit cards without authorization, falsely inflating campaign finance reports, fraudulently receiving unemployment benefits and lying on his financial disclosures.
U.S. District Judge Joanna Seybert will have to accept the plea deal negotiated by the two sides. A hearing is set for Monday where Santos is expected to plead guilty.
Many across social media reacted to the news that Santos intends to plead guilty this week, with many offering their own views of why he's doing it.
Many also believe he should get jail time.
"I am tired of 'elected officials' thinking they can say and do whatever they want and have no consequences for their actions. Lock him up," one X user wrote.
Another X user wrote, "He should be sentenced according to what is normal under law for these crimes."
This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
A court fight has erupted in Indiana because police there, inspecting a package routed by FedEx through its hub there, opened it up, found $42,000 in cash, and decided to keep it.
Even though they could not identify any law that may have been broken by those sending the payment to the owners of a jewelry distribution company that was owed the money.
It's the Institute for Justice that has brought the case in Indiana state court on behalf of Henry and Minh Cheng, who crisscross the nation selling jewelry to small business.
"They have never done business in Indiana. Yet today they are fighting in Indiana state court to get back more than $42,000 seized from their company's parcel that was routed through the FedEx shipping hub in Indianapolis," the IJ said.
The background includes allegations that police routinely "for years" have made a practice of examining FedEx packages and taking cash when they find it.
"It's a profitable practice. Since 2022 alone, Indiana has begun proceedings to forfeit more than $2.5 million from in-transit parcels, and the state has already raked in approximately $1 million from those parcels."
It's the prosecutor in Marion County that claims, in court, that there's a taint to the cash. In this case, the allegation is that it was involved in some violation of a law.
But the process forces cash owners to travel hundreds or thousands of miles to Indiana and then prove their ownership.
"The Indiana government cannot take money from people just because a shipping company routes it through Indiana," said IJ Attorney Marie Miller. "Henry and Minh have never been to Indiana or done business in Indiana, but now they have to defend against a forfeiture action in Indiana, without the state bothering to identify an Indiana crime that it can allege the money is linked to."
This situation developed because one of the company's customers, in Virginia, was slow to pay. Then suddenly the retailer said a cash payment would be possible, and they accepted.
The payment was shipped via FedEx, which routed it through Indiana, and when a dog "alerted," an officer opened the package and took the cash.
"The government can't even identify a crime that would allow them to keep the money that we need to run our business," said Henry. "We were shocked when we found out what was going on in Indianapolis and we want to put a stop to it."
"This scheme is one of the most predatory we have seen, and it's past time to put a stop to it," said IJ Senior Attorney Sam Gedge. "It's illegal and unconstitutional for Indiana to forfeit in-transit money whose only connection to Indiana is the happenstance of FedEx's shipping practices."
Former Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle has been given her own security detail following several threats, the Washington Examiner reported. Cheatle stepped down in disgrace last month after she failed to stop an assassination attempt against President Donald Trump.
Trump was struck by a bullet at a Butler, Pennsylvania, rally on July 13. Although the former president did not sustain life-threatening injuries, one of the rallygoers, a former fire chief, lost his life.
In addition, two others were seriously wounded by the would-be assassin's bullets. This rightly left many people pointing fingers at Cheatle for such a glaring failure to protect the GOP candidate, with some of that criticism also coming in the form of threats on her life.
The agency has assigned Cheatle protection from the Dignitary Protection Division, which is typically reserved for visiting foreign leaders. This marks the first time such a provision has been made by the agency for one of its own.
There is no justification for threatening Cheatle or anyone else over what happened to Trump. However, it is still appropriate to recognize the many failures she had a hand in that led to Trump almost losing his life.
"The Secret Service’s solemn mission is to protect our nation’s leaders. On July 13th, we failed," Cheatle admitted to the House Oversight and Accountability Committee days after the shooting, according to the Associated Press.
The agency failed to act when it was alerted to a suspicious person, who turned out to be shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks, as many as five separate times. Crooks was also spotted at the event using a rangefinder device used by marksmen to line up shots.
The Secret Service had identified the roof where Crooks would ultimately fire off several rounds before being taken out by law enforcement snipers as an area requiring personnel. It was apparently left wide open on the day of the rally anyway.
Moreover, local law enforcement had also voiced concerns about Crooks and took photos of him as a possible threat before the rally began. However, nothing was done about him until he began shooting at Trump.
Cheatle had been reluctant to resign, but CNN reported that she finally stepped down at the end of July. "In light of recent events, it is with a heavy heart that I have made the difficult decision to step down as your Director," she wrote.
It's become abundantly clear that Cheatle was only a symptom of a larger problem with incompetence within the agency. As Fox News recently revealed, an agent allegedly abandoned her post to breastfeed her baby at a rally for Trump in North Carolina.
RealClearPolitics correspondent Susan Crabtree posted about the event in an exclusive to X, formerly Twitter, on Thursday. Crabtree wrote that "a woman Secret Service special agent abandoned her post to breastfeed with no permission/warning to the event site agent..."
🚨🚨EXCLUSIVE and BREAKING: During a Donald Trump visit to North Carolina yesterday, a woman Secret Service special agent abandoned her post to breastfeed with no permission/warning to the event site agent, according to three sources in the Secret Service community.
Shortly… pic.twitter.com/lkfhhLcA0B
— Susan Crabtree (@susancrabtree) August 15, 2024
There's no excuse for people to threaten officials like Cheatle, regardless of her role in the attempted assassination. Ironically, she'll likely receive better protection than she provided for the former president she was charged with guarding.
A Secret Service agent abandoned her post to breastfeed five minutes before Donald Trump's North Carolina rally on Wednesday.
The site supervisor found the woman in a side room with family members, according to RealClearPolitics' Susan Crabtree.
Three sources inside the Secret Service told Crabtree that the female agent left her post without asking permission from the site supervisor.
Five minutes before Trump's motorcade arrived, the site agent found the woman breastfeeding her child "in a room that is supposed to be set aside for important Secret Service official work, i.e. a potential emergency related to the president," Crabtree said.
The agent was accompanied by two unauthorized family members in a side room set aside for emergencies, the report said. Crabtree noted that Secret Service agents are not permitted to bring children to protective assignments.
The woman and her family "bypassed the Uniformed Division checkpoint and were escorted by an unpinned event staff into the room to breastfeed," the report said. "Unpinned means they have not been cleared by the Secret Service to be there."
The agent was working out of the Atlanta field office. A Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said the incident is under investigation.
"All employees of the U.S. Secret Service are held to the highest standards. While there was no impact to the North Carolina event, the specifics of this incident are being examined. Given this is a personnel matter, we are not in a position to comment further."
The shocking security lapse comes roughly a month after Trump was almost assassinated at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
The gunman was perched on an obvious rooftop, leaving him able to shoot at Trump from less than 200 yards. Trump narrowly survived by turning his head, causing the bullet to graze his ear.
Public trust in Secret Service has plummeted since the July 13 assassination attempt, which is under investigation by Congress and the FBI.
The Secret Service's former director, Kimberly Cheatle, resigned over the shocking security failures that led to the shooting.
Trump has refused calls from Secret Service to stop doing events outdoors, and he is even pledging to return to Butler for another rally. Secret Service will start using bulletproof glass to protect Trump while he's on stage.