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President Donald Trump is expected to replace the director of the Secret Service following controversies after an assassination attempt against him during a July rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
The report of the potential replacement comes from multiple sources just ahead of the president’s return to office on Monday.
“July 13 was a failure of the Secret Service to adequately secure the Butler Farm Show site and protect President-elect Trump,” Acting Director Ronald Rowe said to the task force investigating the assassination.
“That abject failure underscored critical gaps in Secret Service operations, and I recognize that we did not meet the expectations of the American public, Congress, and our protectees, and they rightly have that idea based on how we performed,” he added.
Trump is reportedly set to appoint Sean Curran, a close associate of Trump and the current head of his security detail, as Rowe’s replacement. According to multiple sources, Curran presently oversees a team of 85 in his role with the president-elect.
Critics of his appointment have raised concerns about his lack of agency experience and questioned his ability to manage an organization as large as the Secret Service, given his limited leadership scope.
In October, the task force released a 52-page report on Thursday warning of needed changes to avoid future tragic events.
“The Secret Service as an agency requires fundamental reform to carry out its mission,” the authors wrote to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
“Without that reform, the Independent Review Panel believes another Butler can and will happen again,” the panel added.
The report cited the unprotected flat rooftop as a key safety concern.
“The failure to secure a complex of buildings, portions of which were within approximately 130 yards of the protectee and containing numerous positions carrying high-angle line of sight risk, represents a critical security failure,” the report said.
The report also highlighted problems in the communication between the Secret Service and local law enforcement.
“Relying on a general understanding that ‘the locals have that area covered’ is simply not good enough and, in fact, at Butler this attitude contributed to the security failure,” the report noted.