A Secret Service agent called a toll-free number to get technical support with a drone system prior to the July 13 attempt on Donald Trump's life in Butler, Pennsylvania, according to a damning Senate report.
There were numerous opportunities to stop shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks, but Secret Service somehow fumbled each one of them, according to an interim report from the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
The Secret Service agent in charge of operating the Counter Unmanned Aircraft Systems (C-UAS) had little experience, and he called a toll-free number to troubleshoot the drones, which remained inoperable for several hours.
Meanwhile, the Secret Service denied requests for additional drones, even as Crooks used his own personal drone to scout the rally site before the assassination attempt.
Trump survived by turning his head just in the nick of time, leaving him grazed in the ear. Crooks killed a rallygoer, Corey Comperatore, and critically wounded two others.
The Secret Service first became aware of a suspicious person 27 minutes before the shooting, but they failed to stop Trump from going on stage. Two minutes before Crooks pulled the trigger, Secret Service knew a suspicious individual was on the roof of the AGR building.
A counter-sniper also saw local police with guns drawn, but did not think to notify Trump's protective detail.
The Secret Service counter-sniper team was placed at the rally in response to a "credible intelligence" of a threat, the report said, noting that it was the first term a counter-sniper team has ever been provided to someone who is not the president, the vice president, or a major party nominee. Trump was nominated the Republican candidate for president days after surviving the shooting.
Perhaps most critically, the rooftop that provided Crooks with a clear line of sight was not secured, despite local police raising concerns.
As the Senate committee put it, the failures were "foreseeable, preventable, and directly related to the events resulting in the assassination attempt that day."
Weeks after cheating death in Pennsylvania, Trump was targeted a second time by a would-be assassin in Florida.
The Senate unanimously passed legislation this week to enhance security for major presidential candidates, but without some serious reform, Trump - and the public - unfortunately cannot have confidence that he is safe.
