Survivors of the Butler shooting blame the Secret Service for Trump’s assassination attempt

The two men who survived the assassination attempt on former President Trump during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, blame the Secret Service.

James Copenhaver, 74, and David Dutch, 57, sat down with NBC News for an interview that aired Monday to talk about their experiences and the emotions they went through. Dutch said his anger outweighed everything else.

“I was more angry about that than anything,” Dutch said. “I mean, I was in the military, went through a war, didn’t even get a scratch. And yet, when you go to a rally, you get shot at in the crowd.”

When asked what he was particularly angry about, Dutch replied: “The security.”

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Copenhaver, who now walks with a cane, said he realized something was wrong when “I saw part of my sleeve come off and heard it.” [gunshot noises].”

“I heard it clearly and then I turned to my friend and said, ‘I think I’ve been shot,'” he said.

Both men were injured by gunfire after a lone gunman opened fire on Trump from a nearby rooftop just minutes after the Republican candidate’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13. Trump’s ear was grazed as he ducked to avoid the hail of bullets, but the gunfire hit several attendees, including Corey Comperatore, who died shielding his family from bullets.

A firefighter’s coat belonging to the late Corey Comperatore is placed in the crowd at a rally for former President Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, Saturday, October 5, 2024. (Matthew McDermott for Fox News Digital)

Copenhaver was shot twice: one bullet pierced his triceps, while the other was still lodged in his body, leaving him with nerve damage – something like someone “taking a cigarette and burning it right into his leg.”

The bullet that hit Dutch split his liver. He likened it to being hit with a “sledgehammer right in the chest.”

“I could feel my ribs were broken,” Dutch told NBC News.

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The attack brought the secret service under criticism for failing to recognize the threat and not prevent it. Scrutiny intensified after Trump survived another assassination attempt by a lone gunman hiding in the bushes near Trump’s golf course in Florida, where the former president was playing a round.

Asked if he thought the Secret Service had failed her and President Butler, Dutch replied, “Oh yeah, big deal.”

Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign event at Calhoun Ranch on Saturday, October 12, 2024, in Coachella, California. (AP Photo/Alex Gallardo)

“It was a rush job. It was put together too quickly and they skipped steps,” Copenhaver said.

On Sunday, a man was arrested on weapons charges outside Trump’s Coachella rally in California. The man, 49-year-old Vem Miller, told Fox News Digital that he reported the weapons to authorities. He said he always travels with guns but never uses them. He argued that the documents that Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco said were fake were real.

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His arrest on weapons charges sparked speculation after two assassination attempts on Trump since July. However, he was quickly released on $5,000 bail and no federal charges have been filed so far.

Fox News Digital has reached out to the U.S. Secret Service for a response to the interview.

Fox News Digital’s Stepheny Price contributed to this report.