Former President Donald Trump’s top advisers and Secret Service subordinates have privately questioned why local police were not informed that the same man who plotted to assassinate Trump at a Pennsylvania rally was pursuing the suspicious individual.
The gunman, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, opened fire at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, killing one spectator and wounding two others. The former president was also wounded in the ear by the gunfire.
The Pennsylvania State Police chief told a congressional committee last week that a local counter-sniper observed Crooks behaving strangely at least 20 minutes before he shot the former president, took photos and sent them to a command center staffed by state police and Secret Service agents.
by The Washington PostSecret Service agents who protected Trump and accompanied him backstage said they had not been informed that Crooks was being followed and expressed concern to other Secret Service agents.
They also said they were not informed that a local counter-sniper eventually lost sight of Crooks, or that another local police officer on the roof of a building just outside the rally’s security perimeter spotted Crooks standing there with a gun.
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Republican presidential candidate and former president Donald Trump is hurriedly escorted off the stage during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 2024. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
The first warning from Trump’s troops came when Crooks began firing at 6:11 p.m. This was minutes after Trump appeared on stage.
According to the newspaper, some of Trump’s top advisers, who were under a large white tent behind the stage, initially thought the gunfire was fireworks and did not immediately take cover.
Trump’s advisers told the outlet they only learned of the concerns after the shooting occurred and stressed they didn’t know why they were informed of the suspicious person report in order to decide whether to postpone Trump’s speech.
“Nobody mentioned it. Nobody said there was a problem,” Trump told Fox News’ Jesse Watters. “They could have said, ‘Let’s wait 15 minutes, 20 minutes, five minutes,’ or whatever. Nobody said that. I think that was a mistake.”
A Secret Service official told The Washington Post that investigators were still investigating whether anyone had told Trump’s security detail or other Secret Service operational teams about the suspicious person report.
The official said reports of suspicious people are fairly common at some public events and may not be of enough concern to require a change of plans or alerting senior security officials.
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Republican presidential candidate and former president Donald Trump is watched by U.S. Secret Service agents during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, Saturday, July 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Kimberly Cheatle, who was the director of the Secret Service at the time but has since resigned, was asked at a House Oversight Committee hearing last week why the Secret Service did not immediately delay Trump’s speech or act sooner after local police reported suspicious people. She said such reports were common.
“In many of the places we protect, there are suspicious individuals that are identified all the time,” she said, “but that doesn’t necessarily mean they pose a threat.”
The questions from Trump’s security forces and advisers came after months of tension between the former president’s campaign and top Secret Service officials in the wake of the assassination attempt.
According to The Washington Post, the former president’s team has complained to Secret Service headquarters about the denial of various requests, including the deployment of magnetometers, anti-sniper and other specialized teams at events. The two sides also clashed over security and logistics for the Republican National Convention, which took place in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, earlier this month, just days after the shooting.
Lawmakers have repeatedly expressed concern that a lack of communication may have contributed to Crooks being given the opportunity to shoot Trump.
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A Secret Service agent tends to former Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump onstage during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 2024. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
The Washington Post reported that the Trump campaign may have changed its security decisions if it had been warned that police were searching for suspicious people just outside the rally’s security perimeter, but it’s unclear whether such a decision would have led to a delay in Trump’s speech.
A member of Trump’s team told The Washington Post that there have been reports of suspicious people and activity at Trump rallies, but nothing has turned up. When such incidents occur, the suspects are usually inside the rally’s Secret Service perimeter, this person said, meaning they are screened with magnetic detectors meant to stop people with weapons from entering. But at the July 13 rally, Crooks was just outside the security perimeter.
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Colonel Christopher L. Parris, superintendent of the Pennsylvania State Police, told the House Homeland Security Committee last week that local anti-sniper officers suspected Crooks was suspicious because he was wandering around the rally rather than just outside the venue or going inside, and became further concerned when they observed Crooks carrying a golf rangefinder.
Paris said counter-snipers then sent a photo of Crooks to Pennsylvania State Police, who were stationed at the command center with Secret Service agents.
