Trump Ignored Warnings Before Butler Assassination Attempt

Trump and his campaign were warned more than a week in advance that the Butler rally site was dangerous and would be a “disaster,” but the warnings were ignored.

Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PA), a Trump ally who is leading the congressional task force investigating the assassination attempt, said that he warned the campaign about the dangers of the Butler site.

NOTUS reported:
“I made a statement [to the campaign] when they first told me that, I said, ‘You can’t do it there. It’s too small.’ The idea was that they had already made a decision, but it’s not the right place. The answer came back, ‘Well, we’ve already made a decision.’ I said, ‘Well, then, who did the site visit?’ And the answer back was, ‘Congressman, we told you we’ve already made a decision,’” Kelly said. “That answer told me that nobody’s been here.”

“I said to them, ‘You guys made the wrong decision. This is going to be very dangerous.’ And they said, ‘Well, we’ve already made the decision.’ So from that point on, I was concerned,” Kelly said.

As someone who grew up down the road from the Butler site, I can tell you that it was a terrible place to hold a campaign rally. It is rural and virtually impossible to secure effectively, as Rep. Kelly noted, the rampant road construction throughout Western Pennsylvania this summer made the venue even less safe.

None of this excuses the Secret Service, but as Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) who is also serving on the task force investigating the assassination attempt told CNN’s Jim Acosta, the Secret Service is not allowed to veto campaign location choices.

Video of Moskowitz:

Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) tells @Acosta that Congress is looking at whether the site of the Trump assassination attempt was too dangerous and should not have been picked. “We’re looking at whether or not this site should have been picked at all.” pic.twitter.com/CCGWJWDDck

— Sarah Reese Jones (@PoliticusSarah) August 27, 2024

There were clear security failures, but the Trump campaign was at a place that they shouldn’t have been at because they needed to book a smaller venue, because Trump is having trouble drawing big crowds, and he doesn’t have the money to book bigger sites, the the large Butler County venue that he used in 2020.

There were a number of failures that led to the assassination attempt, but the situation could have been avoided if Trump and his campaign would have heeded warnings about their choice of venue.

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association

Latest posts by Jason Easley (see all)