Suicide, Sexual Impropriety and Sleeping on the Job: Inside Trump’s Dysfunctional 60-Person Secret Service Detail
Crooks fired eight shots, striking Trump in the right ear, killing rallygoer Corey Comperatore, 50, and critically wounding David Dutch, 57, and James Copenhaver, 74.
Donald Trump's Secret Service detail was plagued by a suicide, alleged sexual impropriety and accusations of sleeping on the job long before the assassination attempt on the former president's life last month.
RadarOnline.com can reveal Trump's Secret Service detail – which has come under fire for failing to stop shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13 before he opened fire – is so dysfunctional they were "sternly dressed down" by two top leaders in May.
Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned on July 23 over the Secret Service's failure to stop Thomas Matthew Crooks before he started shooting.
A source said detail leader Sean Curran and his deputy Matthew Piant complained about "rumors, innuendo and toxicity" as well as "selfishness and immaturity" within the 60-person detail.
Curran and Piant reportedly focused on three incidents during a virtual meeting on May 13: the suicide of an agent in 2023, accusations of improper sexual relationships and an incident in which one agent took pictures of two other agents sleeping while on duty at Mar-a-Lago.
According to RealClearPolitics, Piant cited the Secret Service agent's 2023 suicide while "arguing that all members of the team should be especially attuned to mental health problems and risks involved with ridiculing people".
One official briefed on the matter also confirmed the Secret Service Office of Professional Responsibility launched an investigation into allegations of "sexual impropriety and fraternization" within Trump's detail.
Some of Trump's detail were applauded for throwing themselves on the ex-president amid the shooting.
Although the accusations were investigated, the office reportedly deemed the claims "unfounded".
As for the accusations of sleeping on the job, those were reportedly connected to an incident that occurred at Trump's Palm Beach, Florida residence this past spring.
Instead of waking the two Secret Service agents accused of sleeping at their Mar-a-Lago command post, a third agent snapped pictures and shared the photos with the rest of the 60-person team.
Piant was said to have deemed the incident a "betrayal of the team" for the sole purpose of "humor and gossip" and reprimanded the three agents involved.
Crooks, 20, was neutralized by a Secret Service sniper moments after he opened fire.
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Another insider claimed the May 13 meeting – which was held exactly two months before the shooting in Butler on July 13 – came after Curran and Piant were the subject of several formal complaints.
The insider said: "Members on the team viewed the all-hands lecture as an effort to turn the tables and retaliate on those complaining about their leadership."
As RadarOnline.com reported, Trump's dysfunctional 60-person Secret Service detail was the same detail that failed to stop Crooks, 20, before he fired eight bullets from his AR-15-style rifle on July 13 during a MAGA rally in Butler.
The Bethel Park native struck Trump in his right ear and killed rally-goer Corey Comperatore, 50. Two other attendees were seriously injured.
Bodycam footage from the moment two officers discovered Trump's would-be assassin on the roof of the American Glass Research factory was released last week. It is still unclear why the Secret Service did not have an agent positioned on the roof.
Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe, who took over for Director Kimberly Cheatle upon her resignation on July 23, refused to "zero in on a particular agent" during a July 30 Senate hearing when asked who was responsible for the fatal oversight.
Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe refused to say who was responsible for the monumental oversight in Butler last month.
Rowe told Senator Josh Hawley: "We will let the acts of the mission assurance and any other investigations play out."
When asked why the Secret Service agent responsible has not been fired, Rowe added: "I want to remain neutral and make sure we get to the bottom of it and interview everybody to determine whether there was more than one person who perhaps exercised bad judgement."
But while the drama behind-the-scenes with Trump's detail likely distracted the team from its mission on July 13, the incident reportedly served as a wake-up call for the Secret Service.
One source in the Secret Service community told RealClearPolitics: "Some agents have referred to it as their 9/11 moment where people are opting back onto the detail.
"Morale is high, people are motivated. These agents protecting Trump are stiff-jawed with steel in their spine."
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