PA - Assassination attempt, shooting injures former POTUS Donald Trump, leaves 1 spectator deceased two in critical condition, 13 July 2024 #4

[Sundog]

I assume that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu travels with his own secret service equivalent from Israel, especially right now with what just happened to one of our own presidents. Israel's security detail has a reputation for being one of the best in the world, if not the best, and I assume that Netanyahu's Israeli security detail works closely with the U.S. Secret Service while he is here.

I mention this because of the environment right now regarding investigations of what went wrong with the U.S. Secret Service and the shooting of one of our U.S. presidents just 11 days ago. Hopefully, any foreign dignitary is being afforded the best security we can provide, given the environment.

 

[MassGuy]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1816143171455275243

 

[Chimera]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1816134547739672597

Thanks for the X, (formerly Twitter) link.
I know-- everyone types that... but I couldn't resist.
Darn it, Elon Musk.
JK.

Here's the DM take on it :

FBI reveals Trump shooter flew drone 200 yards from rally stage

FBI Director Chris Wray stunningly revealed bombshell details about former President Donald Trump's assassination attempt, including what devices shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks used.

www.dailymail.co.uk

My opinion is that the secret service who are trained to recognize a threat, should have noticed this ?
They (SS) are not without blame in the death of Corey Comperatore; and the injuries to David Dutch, James Copenhaver and former president Trump.
Omo.

 

[Sundog]

So, possibly less than two hours ?
And the secret service didn't notice ?
That is incredible.
Horrifying.
Omo.

Apparently the SS has the technology to determine if a drone has been deployed in the area, but I guess they didn't use this technology on July 13th in Butler. For an outdoor event with 20.000 people, I would think that technology would be used as standard protocol.

Hopefully they are using it now, including today at the rally in North Carolina, assuming it's an outside rally.

 

[justtrish]

The more that comes out the worse it gets. Completely preventable and what should be run of the mill work for the SS. This is a 20 year old kid living at his parents house visiting the site multiple times, flying a drone in the area just 2 hours before the protectee was to take the stage.

It isn't political and I agree it shouldn't be, but when the SS director is known to be friends with the first lady and the first lady is having an event just about an hour from where this rally is and she has 4X the SS assigned and then all these ridiculous errors happen to a person that is running against the current president.... the public needs reassured that the SS director is committed to finding out what went wrong and fixing it. She should have been giving a press conference to update the people, not talking to the media.

Imagine if it was President Biden who this happened to. Imagine the SS director was a known friend of Trumps wife and then all these "blunders" happened at a rally President Biden was holding? It isn't political and I don't believe that politics played a role in the SS's catastrophic failure, but when things have the appearance of potential bias?? Then add in there are reports of Trump being denied more SS agents and so on, then yes I think it's the role of the SS director to be front and center reassuring everyone. If it's just a few small details every other day or whatever it is they can say, it is important to hear from her. The longer that things go on without hearing from her and then when she releases things to the media it feels like dodging accountability and like there is something to hide. That behavior is what makes people think it's political. A full investigation does not need to be done in order to be transparent with what is going on behind the scenes and what is being learned that she can release.

She didn't even visit the site of the biggest failure under her watch.

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

Trump plans to stop holding outdoor rallies after assassination attempt

Two sources familiar with Trump campaign operations told NBC News the plans are to hold indoor rallies for the foreseeable future.

www.nbcnews.com

Former President Donald Trump plans to stop holding outdoor rallies like the one where he was shot during an assassination attempt this month in Butler, Pennsylvania, according to two sources familiar with his campaign’s operations.

The sources said current plans are to hold indoor rallies, but they also said it's possible Trump will participate in smaller outdoor events or larger rallies in facilities where entrances are more fully controlled and there are not issues with high ground nearby, like stadiums...

 

[mom2chloe]

Almost 8,000 employees, only 3,600 are actual agents.

They seems to me top heavy on the administrative side. Time to reevaluate these administrative, clerical, other positions, and distribute those funds to actual agents.

Moo....

This is what is wrong within government employment. Too many people underperforming who can’t be fired or moved around and costing too much money. IMO SS agents need to be LE or Military. Our presidents and our country deserve better. We need the best of the best in SS as well as military. I am thankful more people were not hurt but this is inexcusable. IMO

 

[GatorFL]

Because she seriously wanted to help the fact finding and is not a coward?

There is a difference between quitting and resigning.

People quit when they don't have the character to take responsibility. They resign after reflection when they do take responsibility.

MOO

I didn't listen to all of her testimony but what I heard sounded like somebody doing the opposite of fact finding. While she said she took responsibility, her failure to answer even basic questions points to the opposite. IMO

 

[Elley Mae]

Wray said Crooks had purchased a ladder, about 5-foot tall, according to a bloodied receipt that he had on him, but the ladder was not found at the scene. The FBI director said it is unclear how Crooks got onto the roof.

FBI director reveals new details on how Trump shooter carried out attack

Thomas Crooks may have had a firearm with a collapsible stock and flew a drone around the campaign rally site prior to the shooting, Wray said before the House Judiciary Committee.

www.nbcnews.com

 

[Waxahachie1]

The more that comes out the worse it gets. Completely preventable and what should be run of the mill work for the SS. This is a 20 year old kid living at his parents house visiting the site multiple times, flying a drone in the area just 2 hours before the protectee was to take the stage.

It isn't political and I agree it shouldn't be, but when the SS director is known to be friends with the first lady and the first lady is having an event just about an hour from where this rally is and she has 4X the SS assigned and then all these ridiculous errors happen to a person that is running against the current president.... the public needs reassured that the SS director is committed to finding out what went wrong and fixing it. She should have been giving a press conference to update the people, not talking to the media.

Imagine if it was President Biden who this happened to. Imagine the SS director was a known friend of Trumps wife and then all these "blunders" happened at a rally President Biden was holding? It isn't political and I don't believe that politics played a role in the SS's catastrophic failure, but when things have the appearance of potential bias?? Then add in there are reports of Trump being denied more SS agents and so on, then yes I think it's the role of the SS director to be front and center reassuring everyone. If it's just a few small details every other day or whatever it is they can say, it is important to hear from her. The longer that things go on without hearing from her and then when she releases things to the media it feels like dodging accountability and like there is something to hide. That behavior is what makes people think it's political. A full investigation does not need to be done in order to be transparent with what is going on behind the scenes and what is being learned that she can release.

She didn't even visit the site of the biggest failure under her watch.

!. The New York post describes Cheatle's relationship with Dr. Biden as professional: Cheatle served on the Second Lady's detail while her husband was Vice President. She was well liked by Dr. Biden and most of her senior aides, but there is no factual information I have seen suggesting this was anything other than earned professional respect. The New York Post article states that it was one of Dr. Biden's senior aides, Anthony Bernal, who advocated for Cheatle's appointment. There is nothing I have seen to suggest that the recommendation was based on anything other than the fact that Cheatle did a good job providing security for Dr. Biden. Here's the NYP article.

I will consider any suggestion that Cheatle's appointment and security decisions were somehow corrupted by a personal friendship with Jill Biden to be unfounded political spin, until someone can show me evidence that their relationship is more personal than professional.

2. The President and his family are the Secret Service's top priority: I think criticism of the allocations of SS bodies to the Pittsburg event, combined with innuendo suggesting undue influence based on personal relationships, are political cheap shots. I am disappointed to see them repeated on a platform that prides itself on fact based discussion.

As always, MOO.

 

[layer]

Wray said Crooks had purchased a ladder, about 5-foot tall, according to a bloodied receipt that he had on him, but the ladder was not found at the scene. The FBI director said it is unclear how Crooks got onto the roof.

FBI director reveals new details on how Trump shooter carried out attack

Thomas Crooks may have had a firearm with a collapsible stock and flew a drone around the campaign rally site prior to the shooting, Wray said before the House Judiciary Committee.

www.nbcnews.com

He also couldn't recall where the ladder was eventually located. He did say there was (forensic, presumably) evidence that the shooter gained access to the roof by using mechanical equipment on the ground and a pipe going up the side of the building.

 

[Waxahachie1]

I didn't listen to all of her testimony but what I heard sounded like somebody doing the opposite of fact finding. While she said she took responsibility, her failure to answer even basic questions points to the opposite. IMO

Ralph Basham, SS Director under GW Bush. Among other things, he said he found Cheatle's testimony to be "responsible" because she was protecting the integrity of the three ongoing investigations, and that he was "shocked that Congress went ahead with a hearing" at this way premature date. He has no political skin in the current game, so I give his views considerable weight. MOO.

 

[layer]

Ralph Basham, SS Director under GW Bush. Among other things, he said he found Cheatle's testimony to be "responsible" because she was protecting the integrity of the three ongoing investigations, and that he was "shocked that Congress went ahead with a hearing" at this way premature date. He has no political skin in the current game, so I give his views considerable weight. MOO.

I have no skin in the game either. Here's what I have come to believe happened with regards to Ms Cheatle and that hearing. From the start she seemed to be set up as the fall guy. The mountain of errors that compounded into dead and wounded people and could have led to some very dark times, demanded immediate resignation. I think people on both sides had agreed on that before the hearings, and she only showed up because they served her a subpoena. While I can give no creedence, personally, to the suggestion that she was protecting the ongoing investigation because she never even asserted that from what I saw. Instead, she just kept referring them to the FBI.

One thing Wray said today that struck me while he was under questioning about securing sites and people; he made the distinction that the FBI is not in the business of security, they are in the business of investigation. It seems like most of the questions that were being refused by Dir Cheatle were questions best posed to someone tasked primarily with doing investigation, not security. In other words, Wray was the one that should have been speaking. He gave much more information today than she did, literally anything would have been more than she gave. But like I said, I think she was set up to fail at that hearing. Then again, I feel the same way about President Biden's last debate, so...
JMHO

 

[Chimera]

He also couldn't recall where the ladder was eventually located. He did say there was (forensic, presumably) evidence that the shooter gained access to the roof by using mechanical equipment on the ground and a pipe going up the side of the building.

Bbm.
Curious what that was ?

And ... a pipe ?
How did he carry his gun when shimmying up a pipe , if that's how TC gained access ?
So many questions that I fear will never be made available to the public.
Omo.

 

[Elley Mae]

The gunman’s weapon was bought legally in 2013 by his father, who later sold it to his son, the FBI director testified.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2024/07/24/wray-fbi-trump-shooting-testimony-capitol-hill/

 

[Inthedetails]

I suspected the shooter had Oswald on his mind!

"Trump gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks searched for details about Lee Harvey Oswald’s assassination of President John F. Kennedy before he opened fire on the former president at a rally in Pennsylvania earlier this month, the FBI director revealed Wednesday."

Trump gunman Thomas Crooks searched ‘How far away was Oswald from Kennedy?’ before assassination attempt

FBI Director Christopher Wray testified in a Wednesday congressional hearing that would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks flew a drone and livestreamed footage of the Trump rally site in Pennsylvan…

nypost.com

 

[Elley Mae]

Bbm.
Curious what that was ?

And ... a pipe ?
How did he carry his gun when shimmying up a pipe , if that's how TC gained access ?
So many questions that I fear will never be made available to the public.
Omo.

Air conditioning units.

Most long guns have slings. Collapsible stock makes it 1/2 its size. The weappn would hang across your back.

 

[layer]

Bbm.
Curious what that was ?

And ... a pipe ?
How did he carry his gun when shimmying up a pipe , if that's how TC gained access ?
So many questions that I fear will never be made available to the public.
Omo.

Indeed! Wray just tossed that out there without giving any more details. The way he said it made me think there was some kind of forensic evidence, like fingerprints or dna on the pipe. Perhaps a footprint on the "mechanical device." At the time I had a normal part of the building mechanical system in mind - drain pipe, A/C unit etc, but who knows?

With regards to the gun all I heard him say was speculation that the collapsible stock had made it easier to conceal/carry onto the roof. I got the impression that they still don't know how he or the gun got on the roof. He confirmed the number of shots taken. I actually saw very little of his testimony, I need to find it online and watch the whole thing because getting details out of authorities on this case reminds me of Delphi (you're on your own).

 

[Elley Mae]

FBI Director Testifies on Trump Assassination Attempt and Agency Oversight

FBI Director Christopher Wray testified on the investigation into the attempted assassination of former President Trump and oversight of the agency before the House Judiciary Committee.

www.c-span.org

 

[justtrish]

!. The New York post describes Cheatle's relationship with Dr. Biden as professional: Cheatle served on the Second Lady's detail while her husband was Vice President. She was well liked by Dr. Biden and most of her senior aides, but there is no factual information I have seen suggesting this was anything other than earned professional respect. The New York Post article states that it was one of Dr. Biden's senior aides, Anthony Bernal, who advocated for Cheatle's appointment. There is nothing I have seen to suggest that the recommendation was based on anything other than the fact that Cheatle did a good job providing security for Dr. Biden. Here's the NYP article.

I will consider any suggestion that Cheatle's appointment and security decisions were somehow corrupted by a personal friendship with Jill Biden to be unfounded political spin, until someone can show me evidence that their relationship is more personal than professional.

2. The President and his family are the Secret Service's top priority: I think criticism of the allocations of SS bodies to the Pittsburg event, combined with innuendo suggesting undue influence based on personal relationships, are political cheap shots. I am disappointed to see them repeated on a platform that prides itself on fact based discussion.

As always, MOO.

I don't see anything I said as political cheap shots. Her lack of transparency gives the impression of hiding something. The American people have questions and she didn't answer any of them. This is a highly heated Presidential election year and a candidate was nearly assassinated. Of course the American people and more specifically the Republican party is going to question weather this was somehow a lack of diligence due to who was being protected. The lapses are growing and growing and it seems impossible that this many security failures by a ZERO fail agency is somehow just coincidence. Of course it very well could be all coincidence and just a series of many blunders that lead to this. If that is the case, then it's even more important for the head of this agency to be reassuring the public and not dodging questions citing the investigation. She was able to speak to the media several times though.

Again it isn't political cheap shots to point out that this SS director has a close relationship with the first lady. I didn't say it was wrong or she didn't deserve the job. I am looking at what has happened and it does add fuel to this fire because she didn't answer direct, simple questions. The first lady did have an event and so did Trump. It shouldn't be difficult to answer for why assets were split up like they were and if Trumps request for more assets was denied, then why. It's a fair question to ask and when straightforward answers aren't given, it leaves many of us looking at the overall picture and feeling very uneasy.