A U.S. senator said on July 21 that the U.S. Secret Service allowed former President Donald J. Trump to take the stage at a large rally in Pennsylvania on July 13, even though local police counter-snipers reported that the shooter was acting suspiciously and had circulated photos of the suspect about an hour before the shooting.
Senator Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin) breaking news The statement on the assassination attempt questioned how the US Secret Service allowed Trump to take to the stage even though local police were actively searching for a “suspect” – later identified as attempted assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks – minutes before he opened fire on Trump and a crowd in Butler, Pennsylvania.
The information Johnson’s office gathered “raises further questions about how the Secret Service handled this information and why the Secret Service did not immediately deploy agents to AGR.” [shooting] “The construction of the building and, perhaps most importantly, why former President Trump was allowed on stage,” the report said. Johnson is a member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, which oversees the U.S. Secret Service.
The near-assassination attempt on President Trump has sparked outrage on Capitol Hill, and the House Oversight and Accountability Committee has issued a subpoena to Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle to hold a hearing on July 22 at 10 a.m. ET in Washington, D.C. Pressure is growing for her to resign or be fired by President Joe Biden.
Crooks, perched on the slightly sloping roof of Building 6 at the American Glass Research Complex, about 150 yards from the podium where Trump was speaking, opened fire with an AR-15-style rifle just after 6:10 pm on July 13. The bullet sliced through Trump’s right ear just milliseconds after the former president tilted his head to the right to look at a large graph on a video screen. Trump said moving his head saved his life.
Ronny L. Jackson, President Trump’s former physician, examined the president at Trump’s Bedminster, New Jersey, apartment late on July 13. Jackson said the bullet was “within a quarter of an inch of hitting his head.”
The Secret Service was aware of the local police message and had requested more information about the suspect’s location 12 minutes before the shooting.
Johnson called on government whistleblowers and witnesses to the shooting to contact his office via email.
“All those who attended the rally, including law enforcement personnel, should carefully record, document, back up, and preserve all potentially relevant information, including security records, video and audio recordings of the rally, evidence of attendance, and witness statements,” the report said. “During the early stages of an investigation, it is critical that all potential evidence is preserved and secured.”
Among the numerous security anomalies cited in the report was the failure of the Secret Service to attend a 9 a.m. security briefing for local police on the day of the rally. Butler County officials distributed a security perimeter map that did not include the American Glass Research facility just north of the Butler Farm Show fairgrounds.
According to the report, the Secret Service initially did not intend to send an anti-sniper team to the rally, “requiring local police to ‘use sniper-heavy’ to ensure adequate coverage. Local police learned at least a day before the rally that the Secret Service had changed course and decided to send two sniper teams.”
The security briefing also raised the topic of drones flying over the rally, though the report did not disclose what those were. Media reports on July 20 said Crooks had flown a small drone over the rally in preparation for an attack on Trump.
The report said police radio communications were “siloed” on different channels, making coordination between local police and the Secret Service difficult: information had to be relayed in a tag-team fashion between local police and the command center.
After being shot at a rally in Pennsylvania on July 13, former President Donald J. Trump raised his fist in defiance and yelled, “Fight! Fight! Fight!”
Photo credit: Trump Campaign/Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images
Butler County was responsible for designating the locations of two local counter-sniper teams. Fewer than 40 local SWAT officers and counter-snipers were assigned to the rally, according to the report. By 10:30 a.m. on Jan. 6, the two counter-snipers had infiltrated the two-story AGR building.
According to the report, Crooks was first spotted by a local police counter-sniper at the AGR building, just north of the rally site, at 5:10 pm and noted to be acting suspiciously.
Four minutes later, a police counter-shooter took two photos near the one-story building that Crooks used as a platform to ultimately shoot Trump. One of the photos reportedly showed Crooks reading a news article on his cell phone. The photos were circulated to local police.
At 5.28pm, counter-snipers photographed a bicycle and a rucksack near the AGR building, but Mr Johnson’s report said it was unclear whether the items were linked to Crooks.
At 5:32 p.m., counter-sniper officers again spotted Crooks near the AGR building, carrying a rangefinder that can be used to estimate the distance to a shooting target.
Six minutes later, he sent a message about Crooks to a countersniper group. According to police, there were four countersniper teams active on July 13: two with local police, one with Pennsylvania State Police, and one with the Secret Service.
At 5:41 p.m., a police counter-sniper called the command center to report Crooks had appeared and noted he had a rangefinder. At 5:45 p.m., the counter-sniper texted the information about Crooks to the Beaver County Emergency Services Division to relay to the command center.
A local police sniper captured a photo of would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks on a retaining wall alongside the building that was used as a base to shoot and kill former President Donald J. Trump on July 13.Senator Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin)
At 5:49 p.m., Crooks’ photo was transmitted to the Butler County ESU Command Center. Six minutes later, the Butler Command Center confirmed receipt of the photo, saying, “[d] “They were relayed,” the report states.
According to reports, at 5:59 p.m. — 12 minutes before the shooting began — Beaver County police officers received word that a command center, including the Secret Service, “had recognized the message and requested further information regarding the suspect’s location.”
At 6:05 p.m., the Butler ESU Command Center inquired as to the direction Crooks was traveling, and counter-sniper personnel responded that the suspect was carrying a backpack and heading northeast.
The counter-snipers moved to their base on the first floor of the AGR building at 6.06pm to alert local police on the scene to the presence of the suspect.
“ATF is reportedly using Crooks’ photo for facial recognition.”
Shortly thereafter, a passerby saw Crooks climbing onto the roof of AGR Building 6 with a rifle. Crooks fired the first shot at President Trump just after 6:11 pm. After an escalating gunfight, Crooks was shot in the head by an apparent counter-sniper.
According to reports, members of the Beaver County Special Forces entered the roof at 6:23 pm and found Crooks dead. At 6:43 pm, police searched Crooks and found a cell phone, a walkie-talkie that could be used to detonate explosives, and a rangefinder.
The report questions why agents from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were on a roof near Crooks’ body and demanding that photos of Crooks be sent to a Philadelphia-area phone number with a 215 area code.
“ATF is reportedly using photographs of Crooks for facial recognition,” the report said.
According to the report, Crooks purchased a 5.5-foot double aluminum ladder at a Home Depot in his hometown of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania. There is no indication that Crooks used the ladder to climb to the roof of Building 6.
The day after the shooting, Johnson sent letters to FBI Director Christopher Wray, Attorney General Merrick Garland and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, asking them to answer 16 questions about the assassination attempt.
Johnson’s July 21 report raised 41 more questions, including the number of shell casings found near Crooks, the contents of the backpack Crooks was believed to have been carrying before the shooting, and why the Secret Service did not contact the anti-sniper team directly.
Like Blaze News? Bypass the censorship and sign up for our newsletter to get stories like this directly to your inbox. Register here!
