The Secret Service was unaware of Donald Trump's movements on the night he walked to a historic Washington D.C. church that had been burned by left-wing rioters during the summer of 2020.
The troubling finding was included in a government report on the law enforcement response to the riots, which injured dozens of Secret Service agents.
The agency is facing a crisis of public trust after the failed assassination of Trump at a rally in July.
During the summer of 2020, political violence exploded across the nation in the wake of George Floyd's death.
On the evening of June 1, Trump famously crossed to St. John's Episcopal Church and held up a Bible in a display of solidarity with law-abiding citizens after multiple nights of violence and arson. Rioters had burned St. John's the night before.
The agency's then-director, James Murray, did not know Trump was going to walk to St. John's until Trump was crossing Pennsylvania Avenue, according to the Justice Department's Inspector General.
Murray said that he learned at 5:30 p.m. that Trump wanted to visit Lafayette Park to shake hands with police and survey fire damage.
According to Murray, 40 minutes later the plans were "scrapped." Murray did not hear about it again until Trump was walking to the church, just minutes after police cleared demonstrators out of the park.
At the time, Trump was accused of forcefully dispersing the demonstrators for a "photo op," but the clearing operation had been planned hours before to allow a tall fence to be installed.
Secret Service officials told the Justice Department's Inspector General they felt no "rush" to speed up the clearing operation because of Trump, although they were aware he wished to see the park. Nights before, Trump had been brought to a secure bunker as rioters burned the city.
Public trust in the Secret Service has plummeted after the attempted assassination of Trump at a rally in July. The agency has faced further criticism for pointing the finger at local law enforcement.
The agency's new acting director, Ronald Rowe, pledged Friday to win back the confidence of the American people.
“The bottom line is this,” he said, “this was a Secret Service failure, that roofline should have been covered, we should have had better eyes on that.”
