Two men who survived being shot during the attempt to assassinate Donald Trump in July at a rally in support of the former president say the US Secret Service failed them as well as the Republican White House nominee.
The remarks from Jim Copenhaver, 74, and David Dutch, 57, came in speaking with Tom Llamas on NBC Nightly News in their first public interview since the shooting in Pennsylvania, which also killed one spectator and injured Trump’s ear before a Secret Service sniper shot the would-be assassin dead.
“I believe there was 100% negligence on the Secret Service – probably everybody involved in setting that security – down to inter-department communications,” Dutch said. “The negligence was vast. It was terrible.
“It wouldn’t have happened, had it been secure,” Copenhaver said.
Asked if he believed the Secret Service failed him and Trump, Dutch said: “Big time.
The whole security set-up was poor.”
Dutch was shot in the liver. Copenhaver was shot in the triceps and abdomen.
Attorneys representing both men said they plan to file lawsuits seeking damages. They said they were reviewing against whom they would pursue their cases.
Copenhaver and Dutch both explained how their wounds had caused them ongoing health problems.
Copenhaver said he lost 30 pounds, now walks with the assistance of a cane and still experiences pain.
Dutch said he still requires help tending to his bullet wound, lost 25 pounds, and cannot drive or lift more than 10 pounds.
The Secret Service has faced criticism and scrutiny over the failures that allowed the assassination attempt in Butler to take place. An internal investigation revealed poor communication between those tasked with protecting the former president as well as slipshod advanced planning cleared the way for the assassination attempt.
“I was just angry that the whole situation even happened,” Dutch said. It should have never happened.”
Kimberly Cheatle resigned as Secret Service director shortly after the rally shooting.
About two months later, the Secret Service says it thwarted a second attempt to assassinate Trump when it spotted a man aiming a rifle into the former president’s golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida, while he played there.
Trump recently returned to the scene of the assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, holding a rally at which the billionaire Elon Musk also spoke.
The former president invited criticism by saying the 50-year-old spectator killed at July’s rally while protecting his family – Corey Comperatore – “had the best seat in the house”.
“He was telling his wife and family in the car, ‘He’s going to invite me up,’” Trump said of Comperatore, a former fire chief, on the return visit. “Little did anyone realize Corey would be on the stage three months later in an almost immortal position.”
Those comments – made with Comperatore’s firefighter jacket and helmet placed in the stands behind the former president – marked a rare occasion in which Trump referred to those other than himself while discussing the assassination attempt in Butler.
