The Secret Service has come under growing scrutiny for what law enforcement analysts are calling its massive failure in stopping a would-be assassin from targeting former President Donald Trump at his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on Saturday.
Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, using what may have been his father’s AR-style rifle, had climbed up onto a nearby roof when some rally attendees pointed him out to local law enforcement, said two officials who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
A local law enforcement officer climbed to the roof and found Crooks, who pointed the rifle at the officer. The officer retreated down the ladder, and Crooks then fired toward Trump, the officials said. That’s when U.S. Secret Service snipers shot him, the law enforcement officials said.
Questions abounded about how the gunman managed to get as close to the rally stage as he did.
Revolver News noted: "To get a sense of how bad the screw-up was (assuming it was indeed a screw-up and not something more sinister), it is helpful to understand some facts. One might at first imagine that in order for a gunman to get within shooting distance of President Trump, he must have employed sophisticated concealment methods of the sort usually reserved for spy films. Except this wasn’t the case at all. The shooter was perched on top of a building 150 yards away from where Trump was speaking. Law enforcement experts familiar with security protocols are simply baffled that one of the few rooftops near Trump wasn’t secured, much less how a man could get up there with a rifle and have time to take a shot."
Two sources “familiar with the Secret Service’s operations” told NBC News that the Secret Service was aware of the risks associated with the rooftop, which tops a glass research company next to the Butler Farm Show where the rally was taking place.
“Someone should have been on the roof or securing the building so no one could get on the roof,” one of the sources, a former senior Secret Service agent who was familiar with the planning, told NBC News.
Kevin Rojek, the agent in charge of the FBI’s Pittsburgh field office, said “it is surprising” the gunman was able to open fire on the stage before the Secret Service killed him.
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In a post on Telegram, investigative journalist Luke Rudkowski wrote: "So let me get this straight.....
"1 - The shooter at Trump’s rally was spotted acting suspiciously near the event, Authorities announced over radio to keep an eye on him, and this info was passed to Secret Service. - CNN
"2 - The shooter made it to the roof with a full rifle kit as TWO witness's saw him and say they were telling authorities and screaming about him for an estimated 3 - 4 min - BBC
"3 - A standard sniper-spotter team tasked with covering such a critical direction waits an estimated 42 seconds after looking directly at the shooter, allowing him to take 5 shots at Trump - Video From Event
"4 - The secret service decides its ok to keep Trump on stage for an extended period of time where he's able to face and actually address the crowd with an active shooter - Video From Event
"5 - The secret service didn't think of securing the high point and advantage area over the event..."
Video was posted of the Secret Service sniper engaging the gunman. The questions being asked are, how could the sniper not have seen the gunman before he fired his first shot? How was the gunman able to get off eight shots before finally being taken out?
Susan Crabtree of Real Clear Politics cited two sources in the Secret Service community as saying that Secret Services resources were diverted to Jill Biden’s Saturday event and away from Trump’s "because they followed agency protocol applying to Trump as a former president."
There were also many supplemental agents from different field officers (not Trump’s regular detail) providing security at the rally because Trump’s regular detail has been overworked (some working 7 days straight), and only two counter-snipers, the report said.
Crabtree noted: "But Trump is not just a former president — he is the first in modern history to have run for president again — and he has been the focus of several prosecutions and controversies (understatement intentional). Who made the decision to divert the resources to Jill Biden’s event?"
Former Secret Service agent Dan Bongino faulted the agency's director, Kimberly Cheatle, who was appointed to the post in 2022 by Joe Biden.
According to the Secret Service's website, Cheatle is responsible for executing the agency’s integrated mission of "protection and investigations by leading a diverse workforce." Critics have accused Cheatle of prioritizing "woke" ideologies rooted in diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) instead of only focusing on hiring the best for the agency.
Shooter was about 150 yards from Trump on a rooftop with a direct line of sight to the stage.
It defies every security protocol ever written that this rooftop was not secured, and law enforcement personnel were not standing up there. pic.twitter.com/a1WfwMRZPA — John Cardillo (@johncardillo) July 14, 2024
The sniper was already watching the shooter. Why didn’t he shoot first! 🤔 pic.twitter.com/Ts72wqdG4t
— GentlemanJack (@xGentleManJack) July 14, 2024
BREAKING: Eyewitness says he informed police about a suspicious man on a roof.
Why didn't they do anything about it? pic.twitter.com/044w9Ag6bE — TaraBull (@TaraBull808) July 14, 2024
This is the problem that my Secret Sources have cited: Secret Services resources were diverted to Jill Biden's event and away from Trump's because they followed agency protocol applying to Trump as a former president, according to two sources within the Secret Service community.… pic.twitter.com/9MzmS6Bia7
— Susan Crabtree (@susancrabtree) July 14, 2024
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