Johnson, GOP leaders take victory lap and say they’re ready for Day 1 under Trump

(WASHINGTON) — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin sent a weekend letter to Congressional appropriators urging them to pass government funding bills after the election in the “vulnerable time around transitions” to “uphold the bipartisan tradition of funding our nation’s defense prior to the inauguration of a new president,” a source in the department told ABC News.

In his letter to bipartisan committee chairs on government funding, Austin urged lawmakers to avoid a six-month stopgap funding measure, calling a regular funding bill for the Pentagon “the single most important thing that Congress can do to ensure U.S. national security.”

Speaker Mike Johnson has proposed the six-month continuing resolution to fund the government beyond the inauguration of a new president. The government funding deadline is September 30.

Austin’s letter does not signal opposition to a one-month stopgap – but he urges “action immediately after the election.”

“The repercussions of Congress failing to pass regular appropriations legislation for the first half of FY 2025 would be devastating to our readiness and ability to execute the National Defense Strategy,” Austin writes.

The defense secretary points out to Congressional leaders that a six-month continuing resolution “would represent the second year in a row, and the seventh time in the past 15 years” the Pentagon has been stalled until midyear in receiving its funding orders from the legislative branch.

“I am fully aware of the political pressures that will challenge the Congress from fulfilling its duty before our national elections conclude,” he writes. “No matter who wins this election, there will be a Presidential transition. I urge you and your colleagues to take up action immediately after the election to limit damage to our national security during this vulnerable period around transitions and uphold the bipartisan tradition of funding our nation’s defense prior to the inauguration of a new President.”

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(GEORGIA) — One day after a Georgia judge invalidated the state’s controversial “hand count” rule, a separate judge Wednesday evening invalidated even more rules that were passed by the Republican-led state election board, declaring them “unlawful and void.”

Fulton County Judge Thomas Cox ruled after an hours-long hearing to invalidate seven rules total, including the hand count rule, finding in part that the board did not have the authority to enact them.

Cox made clear that the State of Georgia and the State Election Board “are hereby DIRECTED TO IMMEDIATELY REMOVE THESE RULES FROM THEIR ROLES AND OFFICIAL REPORTING” and to “IMMEDIATELY INFORM ALL STATE AND LOCAL ELECTION OFFICIALS THAT THESE RULES ARE VOID AND ARE NOT TO BE FOLLOWED,” in his decision.

The rules now invalidated include a rule calling county officials to certify election results after “reasonable inquiry.”

Cox wrote in his order that rule “adds an additional and undefined step into the certification process” and that it is “inconsistent with and unsupported” by state law.

He also invalidated a rule that “requires that a person delivering an absentee ballot provide a signature and photo ID at the time the absentee ballot is delivered.”

The judge said in his ruling that state provisions don’t require that.

“The SEB thus has no authority to require such presentment as a condition of accepting and counting an otherwise properly delivered ballot,” Cox wrote.

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(WASHINGTON) — Issues with a host of communications and technical difficulties with drone capabilities plagued the U.S. Secret Service at the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, where an assassin took a shot at former President Donald Trump, according to a new report released Friday by the agency.

The Secret Service said it failed to secure the line of sight to the former president, by not securing the roof of the AGR building near the Butler Fair Grounds and law enforcement did not communicate to all personnel involved that there was a threat to the former president, the report said.

The report also revealed there was no discussion with the Secret Service advance staff about positioning a local sniper team on top of the AGR roof and the “lack of due diligence” in the construction of the secure perimeter should have been focused on more acutely.

“It’s important that we hold ourselves accountable for the failures of July 13, and that we use the lessons learned to make sure that we do not have another failure like this,” U.S. Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe said Friday.

The report was an effort from the Secret Service to be transparent about the failures that occurred on July 13, when Thomas Matthew Crooks allegedly climbed on top of a neighboring building and opened fire on Trump, striking him in the ear before being killed by a Secret Service sniper.

“We’re in a pivotal moment in the history of the Secret Service, and at a pivotal moment in history of our country, and I’ve directed that the Secret Service embark on a significant paradigm shift that will redefine how we conduct protective operations,” Rowe said Friday. “What occurred on Sunday demonstrates that the threat environment in which the Secret Service operates is tremendous and under constant threat, and we’ve been in this heightened and increasingly dynamic threat environment since July 13.”

“A consistent theme gathered from state and local law enforcement personnel who helped secure the Butler rally was the presence of communications deficiencies,” according to an executive summary of the report released on Friday.

The “deficiencies” included a lack of resources to share information, a “variety” of communications channels used by different law enforcement agencies, and the agency’s inability to convey the Secret Service’s “protective needs.”

“Some local police entities supporting the Butler venue had no knowledge that there were two separate communications centers on site (i.e., the Secret Service security room and the Butler County Emergency Services Mobile Command Post),” the executive summary said. “As a result, those entities were operating under a misimpression that the Secret Service was directly receiving their radio transmissions.”

Federal personnel on the scene were not informed through the radio of a description of the assailant, or vital information received from local law enforcement regarding a suspicious individual on the roof of the AGR complex, the report said.

The information was being passed through mobile devices in a “fragmented fashion” instead of being relayed through the Secret Service’s radio network, the report said.

“This failure was especially acute in terms of the [Former President’s] protective detail, who were not apprised of how focused state and local law enforcement were in the minutes leading up to the attack on locating the suspicious subject,” the executive summary said. “If this information was passed over Secret Service radio frequencies it would have allowed [Former President’s] protective detail to determine whether to move their protectee while the search for the suspicious suspect was in progress.”

The Secret Service was not made aware that a local agency was providing support to the Secret Service, according to the report.

“Neither the Secret Service’s Pittsburgh Field Office leadership nor anyone on the agency’s advance team were aware of this outreach for support,” the report said. “This led to a situation where the local tactical team operating on the second floor of the AGR building—a team that was providing mutual aid support—had no prior contact with Secret Service personnel before the rally.”

There was “no discussion” with the Secret Service about positioning that local team on the roof of the AGR building, according to the report’s executive summary.

Another challenge impacting the Secret Service on July 13 was its drone system was experiencing “technical difficulties,” the agency said.

The FBI director testified to Congress that Crooks flew a drone outside of the secure perimeter before the rally started.

“It is possible that if this element of the advance had functioned properly, the shooter may have been detected as he flew his drone near the Butler Farm Show venue earlier in the day,” the executive summary said.

The report also found that the Butler Farm Show site “as seen by the Secret Service and our local law enforcement partners as a challenge.”

It was selected by the campaign and local officials “because it was the better venue to accommodate the large number of desired attendees.”

“Advance personnel and multiple supervisors with oversight of the security plan at the Butler Farm Show venue recognized line of site concerns,” the report found. “However, the security measures to alleviate these concerns were not carried out on July 13, 2024 as intended. There was a lack of detailed knowledge by Secret Service personnel regarding the state or local law enforcement presence that would be present in and around the AGR complex.”

ABC News’ Jack Date contributed to this report

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