The bullet used to kill a man who tried to assassinate former President Donald Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania last Saturday was a “one in a million” shot, a source familiar with the investigation into the shooting said.
Fox News has learned from sources that the fatal shot was a single shot fired by a Secret Service counter sniper who was blinded.
Local special forces also took aim at a would-be assassin, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, but missed.
The Secret Service sniper who killed Crooks could only see the scope of his gun, the tops of Crooks’ eyes, and his forehead because the edge of the roof obscured the sniper’s view.
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The sniper who shot Thomas Matthew Cooks, who attempted to assassinate former President Trump on July 13, 2024, killed him with a single bullet with a “one in a million chance.” The sniper in the photo did not fire the fatal bullet. (AP Photo/Jean J. Puskar)
A source described the shot to Fox News as a “one in a million shot.”
The news comes as more information is emerging about security lapses that allowed Crooks to scale the building, have Trump in plain view and open fire on the former president.
While Secret Service agents who thwarted the shooter and rushed to protect Trump have been praised, the agency’s director, Kimberly Cheatle, has been heavily criticized for her response to the incident.
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Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle has come under criticism and is likely to face tough questions about security lapses at the rally. (Kamil Krzaczynski/AFP via Getty Images)
The House Oversight and Accountability Committee is scheduled to hold a hearing on Monday for Cheatle, who has faced calls from lawmakers for his resignation over the committee’s response to the Trump rally shooting.
The hearing, titled “United States Secret Service Surveillance and the Assassination Attempt of President Donald J. Trump,” is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. on Capitol Hill on Monday.
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Republican presidential nominee and former president Donald Trump reacts as multiple gunshots ring out during a campaign rally at the Butler Agricultural Show in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 2024. (Reuters/Brendan McDiarmid)
Cheatle has refused to resign, but House Speaker Mike Johnson told Fox Business on Thursday he is prepared to ask President Biden to fire him.
“During any significant incident, continuity of operations is paramount, and Director of the U.S. Secret Service Kimberly Cheatle has no intention of resigning. She has deep respect for members of Congress and is committed to leading the Secret Service transparently through our internal investigations and strengthening the agency through lessons learned from these important internal and external investigations,” Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said in a statement late Wednesday.
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Cheatle was confronted by senators demanding an explanation when he attended the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee this week.
Fox News Digital’s Greg Norman contributed to this report.
