Police officers guarding the roof where an assassin shot former President Donald J. Trump abandoned their duties because of the heat, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Missouri) said on July 22.
In a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Hawley said whistleblowers who came to his office told him that a specific individual had been assigned to guard the roof of Building 6 at the American Glass Research Complex, just north of the venue where President Trump was shot on July 13.
“Police officers were scheduled to be stationed on the roof that day,” Hawley wrote, “and in fact, the whistleblower alleges that at least one individual was specifically assigned to the roof during the rally, but that individual abandoned their post due to the heat.”
Temperatures in Butler reached a high of 91 degrees on July 13, according to AccuWeather.
The FBI said suspect Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, shot Trump with an AR-15-style rifle from the roof of Building 6, about 130 yards from the podium where Trump was speaking to tens of thousands of supporters.
Trump avoided the massive head injury that would have killed him instantly thanks to a perfectly timed turn of his head milliseconds before the bullet struck, sliced through the top of his right ear and caused him to flinch and fall to the ground.
“Mr. Cheatle, was there a cease and desist order? Was there a plot to kill President Trump?”
Several investigations launched since July 13 are trying to determine how Crooks was able to get onto the roof and fire more than six shots before being killed by a Secret Service counter-sniper.
Crooks was spotted by a local police sniper and declared a suspicious person at 5:10 p.m., according to a report by Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), the chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, which oversees the Secret Service, part of the Department of Homeland Security.
Two photos taken by a counter sniper at 5:14 pm showed Crooks standing along a retaining wall on the edge of Building 6. At 5:32 pm, the counter sniper observed Crooks looking into his cell phone and using a rangefinder, ostensibly to estimate the distance to the Trump podium.
At 5:38 pm, the countersniper notified the sniper group about Crooks. Two minutes later, he was told to “call command” about the suspicious person, according to Johnson’s July 21 report. At 5:41 pm, he called the command center and explained that Crooks was “lurking on the perimeter.” [the] “AGR Building”
At 5:49 p.m., countersnipers sent a photo of Crooks to the Butler Emergency Services Command Center. No acknowledgment was issued for six minutes, according to Johnson’s report.
“We’re supposed to trust her research? It’s a real shame.”
At 5:59 pm, the Beaver County operator received confirmation that the command center (including the Secret Service) had recognized the message and asked which direction Crooks was traveling. At 6:05 pm, local counter-sniper personnel reported that Crooks was traveling northeast with a backpack on.
Neither police nor a Secret Service ground team were able to stop Crooks, despite passersby near Building 6 yelling that he was climbing the slightly sloping roof with a rifle at least two minutes before the shots were fired.
During a House of Representatives hearing, Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle was repeatedly pressed about when her agents determined Crooks was no longer just a suspicious individual but a direct threat to Trump and those attending the rally. Cheatle ultimately said it was just “seconds before” Crooks fired the first shot.
Lawmakers from both parties have urged Cheatle to resign.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) asked whether a cease and desist order had been issued to kill President Trump.
“The people who were there knew there was danger. There were threats against President Trump and they were allowed to do it,” Greene said. “Mr. Cheatle, was there a cease and desist order? Was there a plot to kill President Trump?”
Cheatle responded, “Absolutely not.”
Johnson said the manager offered a string of hackneyed excuses.
“Cheatle is using ‘only nine days left’ as an excuse for not having basic information that should have been available within hours,” Johnson wrote to X. “And should we trust her research? It’s truly disgraceful.”
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