A bombshell report delivered to Congress on Thursday revealed that the Secret Service had intelligence indicating a “high potential for violence” before the Jan. 6 Capitol riot but failed to relay this critical information to its agents protecting Donald Trump, Mike Pence, or Kamala Harris on that day, exposing a new wave of failures by the presidential protection agency.
Homeland Security Inspector General Joseph Cuffari’s report, made public under pressure from House Administration Oversight Subcommittee Chairman Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga., corroborated earlier reporting by Just the News. The report revealed that the Secret Service inadvertently brought Kamala Harris, then the Vice President-elect, within 20 feet of an undetected pipe bomb at the Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters in Washington due to the agency’s failure to use its standard explosive detection tools.
“The Secret Service had not employed all its explosive detection tactics and measures for the security sweep, instead providing only canine teams at the DNC building that day. Afterward, the Secret Service did not report the buildings evacuation as an unusual protective event, as required by its policies,” the inspector general concluded.
The report, obtained by Just the News, provides not only dramatic new details about the security and intelligence failures of January 6, 2021, but also presents compelling evidence in the ongoing investigation into how the Secret Service failed to detect the gunman who injured Trump at a July 13 rally in Butler, Pa.
Congressional aides briefed on the report revealed that its findings and six recommendations for enhancing communication, training, and security tactics were presented to Secret Service management in April, three months before the Trump assassination attempt. In the report, Inspector General Joseph Cuffari emphasized that the failures observed during the Capitol riot 3 1/2 years ago should serve as a critical learning opportunity for the Secret Service. “The events of January 6 were unprecedented and the issues we identified during our review presented an opportunity for the Secret Service to be better prepared in the future,” the report said.
The report also highlighted tensions between Cuffari’s office, the chief watchdog for Homeland Security, and Secret Service managers, who disagreed with several of the report’s findings and recommendations. The report reveals that the failures exposed on January 6, such as issues with communication with local police, inadequate security sweeps, and poor threat identification, are also suspected to be at the heart of the rally tragedy, in which one attendee was killed and two others severely wounded. Trump’s right ear was grazed in the attack.
The IG’s report said the Secret Service’s Protective Intelligence and Assessment Division “received some information indicating a high potential for violence leading up to January 6th, but but USSS/PID did not incorporate such information in the final” security assessments provided to the agents protecting VIPs at and near the Capitol. Because the Secret Service did not incorporate the information, “two relevant documents” about the political protests failed to reflect the high potential for violence, which ultimately affected the agency’s mission.
