Trump Assassination Files: 134-Page Report into Deadly Rally Shooting Reveals String of Unbelievable Secret Service Blunders

Donald Trump nearly lost his life at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania after a "catastrophic" series of blunders by the Secret Service, a bombshell Senate report on the incident has revealed.

RadarOnline.com reviewed the 134-page report blaming "foreseeable" and "preventable" failures within the agency for allowing a 20-year-old would-be assassin to fire seven bullets toward the former president in July.

The Senate committee tasked with probing the incident did not hold back in their critique of the agency, with Sen. Richard Blumenthal calling the response "a perfect storm of stunning failure" and Sen. Rand Paul blaming "an inexcusable dereliction of duty" for the bloodshed in Butler.

Among the jaw-dropping revelations in the report was how one agent, who only had informal drone training, was forced to call a toll-free tech support hotline and took "several hours" desperately "troubleshooting" to get the agency's surveillance drones operational.

Based on their investigation into the security protocols for the rally, Sen. Gary Peters, the committee chairman, concluded: "(T)he Secret Service’s failures that allowed an assassination attempt on former President Trump at his July 13 rally were shocking, unacceptable, and preventable – and they led to tragic consequences."

Thomas Matthew Crooks positioned himself on the rooftop of a building about 410 feet away from the stage and managed to squeeze off seven shots, one of which grazed the GOP candidate's ear, before Secret Service snipers took him out with a bullet to the head. One attendee was killed and two others were gravely injured.

The report released on Wednesday cited confusion within the agency about who was in which role, poor coordination with local law enforcement and botched communication as just some of the reasons Crooks was able to get so close to his target.

Before the event, there had been no plans to secure the building Crooks shot from, which was owned by a company called American Glass Research (AGR). According to the Senate committee, the Secret Service "identified the AGR building as a concern due to the line-of-sight from the foot to the stage, but did not take steps to ensure sufficient security measures were in place".

Agents "did not enter the AGR building or go on the roof prior to the shooting" and a counter sniper team "had an obstructed view" of the roof, per the report.

Additionally, the committee said the agency "did not give state or local partners any specific instructions for covering the AGR building, including the positioning of local snipers" and "did not ensure it could share information with local law enforcement partners in real time".

Even more concerning, the agency was "notified that local law enforcement observed a suspicious person with a rangefinder near the AGR building" about 30 minutes before Crooks opened fire – but this warning did not reach agents on site until about "two minutes before shots were fired".

Agents were therefore forced to scramble to thwart the attempted assassination amid the spray of gunfire.

Although the shooter's motive remained a mystery, the FBI, Secret Service and Dept. of Homeland Security previously claimed Crooks acted alone when he planned – and carried out – his attempt on the 78-year-old politician's life.

The Senate committee released its findings as RadarOnline.com reported Trump was briefed by U.S. intelligence officials about "real and specific assassination threats" posed by the government of Iran – as another suspected would-be assassin, Ryan Wesley Routh, was charged with attempting to kill the ex-president earlier this month.

His campaign said in a statement: "President Trump was briefed earlier today by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence regarding real and specific threats from Iran to assassinate him in an effort to destabilize and sow chaos in the United States."

The statement continued: "Intelligence officials have identified that these continued and coordinated attacks have heightened in the past few months, and law enforcement officials across all agencies are working to ensure President Trump is protected and the election is free from interference."

When the reports of a potential assassination plot against Trump allegedly organized by Iran surfaced in the wake of the Butler rally shooting, Sen. Mike Waltz – who was also on the committee tasked with investigating the incident – was skeptical about the conclusion Crooks acted alone.

Waltz said shortly after the incident, as this outlet reported: "How do you know that mere days into your investigation? You can't tell us his motive, but you could tell us he operated alone? You can't get into these encrypted overseas accounts, but you can tell us he acted alone? So, I don't buy that yet."

Crooks was also found to have stockpiled explosives in the car he used to travel to the rally in Butler on the day of the attack. More bombs were found during an FBI raid of his parents' home following the shooting.

Waltz said: "I don't know of many 20-year-old kids who could make multiple IEDs with a remote detonator on their own."

The investigation also previously found the shooter, who worked at a nursing home, had encrypted messaging accounts on platforms based in Germany, Belgium and New Zealand.

Suspicious about these findings, Waltz said: "Why does a 20-year-old kid who is a healthcare aide need encrypted platforms not even based in the United States, but based abroad where most terrorist organizations know it is harder for our law enforcement to get into? That's a question I've had since day one.

"They need to be releasing information as they come across it because this wasn't an isolated incident. The threats are continually Iran's threats."

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