Kelly commends local law enforcement, plans visit to Butler Farm Show grounds prior to Trump’s Oct. 5 campaign rally
WASHINGTON — Not only will Rep. Mike Kelly R-16th attend the upcoming rally at the Butler Farm Show grounds with former President Donald Trump — who is planning a return to the site of an attempted assassination on Saturday, Oct. 5 — Kelly will also visit the site in the days leading up to the rally.
Looking back on Trump’s last Butler County campaign rally, Kelly said Thursday, Sept. 26, that security and communication will be essential in planning the October event.
“We were not prepared for that day in every single way,” said Kelly, who expressed concern about the venue choice ahead of the July 13 event.
Trump’s campaign rally at the farm show grounds in July ended abruptly — minutes into his speech — after a gunman fired shots at the former president, killing one rallygoer, Corey Comperatore, and injuring three others, including Trump. Kelly was present during the event, attending the rally with family members.
On Thursday, Kelly told members of the media that this time, the AGR building — which offered the gunman in July a vantage point from which to aim his rifle — will be “totally roped off” and restricted.
“(Trump) is going to show up in Butler,” he said. “He is going to stand in that same spot. He is going to deliver the message.”
Prior to the event, where doors open at 10 a.m. and Trump is to take the stage at 5 p.m., Kelly said he’d be at the venue, investing time into understanding what changes to security are implemented.
“I'll be there before that, checking it out, having to see where the perimeter is, where we're going forward, making improvements,” he said.
“If President Trump is anywhere west of the mountains of Pennsylvania, I’ll be there,” he later continued.
Kelly announced his plans to join the ex-president and presidential candidate at the Oct. 5 Butler County rally after the first public hearing of a bipartisan congressional task force investigating the assassination attempts against Trump. The task force is led by the congressman and ranking member Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo.
During the hearing, task force members addressed gaps in communication between law enforcement and the Secret Service on July 13, and questioned the decision-making of Secret Service agents in charge.
Kelly told members of the media that the biggest takeaways were learning about the Secret Service’s “lack of preparation, lack of delegation and lack of communication.”
Local officers spotted the would-be assassin less than two hours before Trump began speaking and identified him as a suspicious person before he was later discovered to be armed.
Radio calls of a suspicious man on the roof were not received by the Secret Service, according to a report released by a bipartisan Senate committee Wednesday, Sep. 25.
Testimony from Thursday’s hearing highlighted lapses in communication, as well as the Secret Service’s failure to prepare for the rally and offer direction to local law enforcement, who performed their duties as specified by the agency.
Testimony also indicates that the Secret Service would have been the agency to ultimately make the call in determining whether conditions were unsafe and whether to pull Trump away from the stage.
“I think saying to President Trump ... ‘we’ve got a suspicious character in there; we would rather keep you inside...’” Kelly said. “That’s not what happened. I do believe that had it happened ... that Corey Comperatore would be here today.”
Kelly also commended the efforts of local law enforcement’s efforts.
“(Local law enforcement were) one of the first ones that the Secret Service pointed fingers (at) that they didn’t do their job,” he said.
“They did their job,” Kelly said. “Now, it comes down to who was in control.”
