The Economist explains

Why did the Secret Service fail to protect Trump from being shot?

Lawmakers want an accounting for mistakes that nearly resulted in Mr Trump’s assassination on July 13th

Photograph: Getty Images

IT WAS A stunning lapse in security: how did a sniper mount an unsecured rooftop with a direct line of sight to Donald Trump, who was standing a mere 150m away? Based on video footage, it looks like Mr Trump was millimetres from death—saved by a lucky turn of the head an instant before Thomas Matthew Crooks, a 20-year-old from Pennsylvania, fired at him. Crooks killed a rally-goer before being fatally shot himself.

Explore more

More from The Economist explains

Who are the Druze, the victims of a deadly strike on Israel?

The religious minority has often been caught up in regional crossfire in the Middle East

Myanmar’s rapidly changing civil war, in maps and charts

Ethnic militias and pro-democracy groups are scoring victories against the governing junta


Who will be Kamala Harris’s running-mate?

She is reportedly vetting a dozen options. These are the top three


Why have so few American presidents been from the West?

Kamala Harris’s nomination would be a milestone for the region

Why the Olympics still has a doping problem

Cheating with drugs has again become an organised affair

Why some Russian athletes will be eligible to compete at the Paris Olympics

Despite antipathy between the Russian government and the International Olympic Committee a handful will compete