Former President Donald Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., expressed disbelief and frustration at a recent security breach involving aerial surveillance of a fairgrounds venue for his father’s July 13 rally. According to a Wall Street Journal article published on Friday, the shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, was able to fly a drone and obtain aerial footage of the western Pennsylvania fairgrounds ahead of Trump’s appearance.
In an apparent attempt at highlighting the gravity of this security lapse, Trump Jr. tweeted about his own experience with flying drones near his father’s residence in Mar-a-Lago. He recounted how, on one occasion, the U.S. Secret Service (USSS) prevented him from operating a drone off of the beach because his father was inside the house at the time. In stark contrast to this, Crooks managed to scout Trump’s speech by flying a drone over the fairgrounds without any apparent interference or intervention from authorities.
This incident is just one of several security failures that have come to light since the shooting attempt on Trump during his campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. The Secret Service has been criticized for not stopping Crooks from positioning himself on a rooftop less than 500 feet away from Trump and firing eight bullets at him. Agents had spotted the shooter on the roof ten minutes before Trump’s speech began but still allowed him to go on stage.
Other failures in the Secret Service’s response to the incident have been reported, with multiple investigations now underway. The ongoing scrutiny of the agency has led to calls for the resignation of its director, Kimberly Cheatle. Despite these demands, Cheatle has stated that she has no intentions to step down and is set to testify before the House Oversight Committee on Monday.
As the investigation into this security breach continues, it remains to be seen whether any changes or reforms will be implemented within the U.S. Secret Service to prevent future incidents of this nature from occurring.