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

[Artis]

President Trump needs to have a witness with him during the interview in case there are leaks regarding the interview and/or any questions about the accuracy of anything that gets reported.

He shouldn't even give them an interview. They are not trustworthy. Provide the info to whatever congressional committee is digging into this.

 

[SouthAussie]

He lied. He lied to a congressional committee, he lied to American citizens. He volunteered information that was untruthful in order to discredit an attempted assassination and a former president. He knew what he was doing he had a smirk when he said it.

I don't think he lied. He said he wasn't sure if it was a bullet or a piece of shrapnel. He later clarified it was a bullet or a fragment (shrapnel) from the bullet.
It was everyone else ("gun experts") who were saying maybe the shrapnel could have come from a metal support or something else. imo


The definition of shrapnel is .... "pieces of a bomb, shell, or bullet that has exploded. During wars, many soldiers are treated for shrapnel wounds." Link

“What struck former President Trump in the ear was a bullet, whether whole or fragmented into smaller pieces, fired from the deceased subject’s rifle,”
(from previous links provided)

 

[Artis]

Reposting this link :

Police were stationed in building Trump gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks shot from

Police were stationed inside the building from which gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks fired shots at Donald Trump, the director of the US Secret Service Kimberly Cheatle says.

Ms Cheatle told ABC News that local police were inside the building while Crooks was on the roof, and that local police - not the Secret Service - had been “responsible" for securing the building and its outer perimeter.
Rbm.

Now that Ms. Cheatle is a "former director" of the USSS ....
Sure, throw the local LE under the bus, why not ?

How many were stationed inside ?

This is looking more and more like a Keystone moment and not the actions of trained professionals.
Here's a thought : What if the SS supersede the PA LE ?
As in -- the PA LE were prevented from posting any of their trained snipers to the roofs ?
Omo.

Contrast that to this:

Butler County District Attorney Rich Goldinger said the Secret Service was told local police couldn't be responsible for securing the AGR building during the Trump rally.

"I don't know whose responsibility that building was," Goldinger said. "But someone should have been there."

"It was indicated we did not have the manpower to take that task on, as well, based on our number of officers on duty," Butler Township manager Tom Knights said.

Knights confirmed that message was sent to the Secret Service two days before the Trump rally. Butler Township also told the Secret Service that its team could only handle traffic control. KDKA-TV learned the Secret Service never responded to those messages.

MSN

 

[Simply Southern]

I'm very curious about all communication and any lack thereof between local LEs and the Secret Service. It seems like the PSP - the only ones allowed in the Secret Service command area - themselves didn't have a clear picture of what was going on:

Secret Service Told Local Police Another Agency Had Building

The shooter fired several rounds from an AR-15-type rifle — eight cartridge cases were recovered from the rooftop of the building, a business just outside the security perimeter, about 150 yards away from where Donald Trump spoke.

www.govtech.com

That is correct. The Director of PSP stated they were able to communicate via radio with SS and in the Command Center. (Congressional hearing)

 

[Artis]

One thing that should be clear is that this was not some kind of plot by Secret Service to harm Trump. Is remains possible that secret service should have done proactive communication. But is is clear that other agencies did not do adequate reactive communication regarding the suspicious person lurking and using a range finder. And secret service could not have orchestrated that.

So, the theory held by some, not necessarily here on Websleuths, that the secret service was behind an attempted hit, is completely debunked.

MOO

SMB

No, that's not clear, at all and nothing has been "debunked".

 

[Luna20]

I sincerely doubt it was an SS hit. If an agency of that type is going to be involved in a hit, I should think they would work with a professional sniper, not a young man who was a shooting enthusiast using a (not very accurate) AR15.

Exactly. My concern is the lack of sufficient security. There should have been adequate roof top surveillance. And I want to know why they dropped the ball on the basics, like a face to face with local LE. That’s a serious oversight at the onset. It’s likely if that was performed correctly that there might not be any fatalities or injuries.

I think a quick video mtg between a point person from each side in advance of the rally would be a good place to start. They need to tighten up their game.

 

[Artis]

One thing that Cheatle said that I agree with and understand is that she made the distinction between a "Suspicious Person" and a "Threat." Until literally the last minute Crooks had been a 'Suspicious Person" but not a confirmed "Threat," but the problem was that it doesn't sound like the Secret Service did anything to investigate nor direct an investigation of the Suspicious Person to see if they were a Threat. The Secret Service Rules Of Engagement are not to limit the movements of protectee nor shoot in response to a Suspicious Person who isn't a confirmed Threat, just so far I've heard nothing of the Secret Service doing anything to see if the Suspicious Person was a Threat. If it turns out that the Secret Service did respond back and direct local LE what to do with the Suspicious Person outside the Secret Service perimeter I could completely change my mind and see local LE dropped the ball, but otherwise I see it as foreseeable that local LE in their assigned perimeter would eventually act as it would be implicit for them to take action given it's their perimeter plus you're dealing with SWAT personnel who also could think it's their duty as SWAT officers since such activity might involve a high risk arrest when confronting a Suspicious Person at an event involving a former US President.

They knew he was using a range finder, which is for shooting, and Cheatle said that was just suspicious and not a threat. Give me a break. He wasn't setting up a golf shot. This is BS!

 

[Artis]

The 20-year-old Bethel Park man who tried to assassinate former President Donald Trump at a Butler County political rally July 13 had used “foreign-based encrypted email accounts” and aliases to make more than 25 purchases on firearms websites and buy six “chemical precursors” online since spring 2023, the FBI said Monday.

FBI: Trump shooter shopped on gun websites using aliases, encrypted email

The 20-year-old Bethel Park man who tried to assassinate former President Donald Trump at a Butler County political rally had used “foreign-based encrypted email accounts” and aliases to make more tha...

www.butlereagle.com

A sniper with the group told ABC News on Monday that the SWAT team had no contact before the shooting with Trump’s security detail, and that he notified command staff about Crooks when the young man was spotted acting suspiciously at the rally about an hour before shots were fired.

…

Local LE had no contact with SS until after the shooting.

Yeah, you see all of the different stories we're getting? Same for how Crooks got there. Was it a bicycle, a car with explosives, a van? Nothing is clear.

 

[rockthecasbah]

IMO, we don’t really know enough about this yet. So far, I tend to agree with Sundog. It seems as though this SS guy was relaying info that was up-to-date at the time he was going off-duty.

For all we are aware, this agent may have already put in a full day scoping out sites, making arrangements or whatever prior to clocking out. They can’t pull 24- hour shifts, and likely they need the freshest people to be active during the time the protectee is actually on the premises.

This is not, of course, to say the SS and/or local LE did not fail. Obviously they did fail or we wouldn’t have one spectator dead, two spectators wounded, and a former president/current candidate slightly wounded (and only alive due to a timely move of his head).

It’s just my current opinion that this particular agent appears to have imparted what he knew to the agents coming onto shift.

I'm not saying that person did a bad job, just that there should have been someone to take over from them at 4pm. Not have a reduced team as the event was starting.

 

[Artis]

Early on, IIRC, federal authorities stated that the assassin had encrypted foreign accounts, and that they were having to work with their counterparts overseas to be able to access these foreign encrypted accounts.

I'm not sure that's a big deal. My own email provider, Fastmail, is in Australia. Not sure if it's encrypted but I also use Proton Mail which is, and they're in Switzerland.

 

[Fabled Automatic]

FBI: Trump has agreed to interview about assassination attempt

 

[Simply Southern]

The gunman who tried to kill former president Donald Trump conducted internet searches related to power plants, mass shooting events and the attempted assassination this year of Slovakia’s prime minister, FBI officials said Monday, offering new details about what they described as the gunman’s “careful planning” for the attack

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2024/07/29/trump-assassination-attempt-fbi-updates/

• 4:26 p.m.: A Beaver County sniper finishes his shift and departs the AGR building. While exiting, he spots Crooks at a picnic table outside and alerts the remaining Beaver and Butler snipers in the AGR building to Crooks’ presence (texts).
• 5:38 p.m.: A Beaver County sniper sends photos of Crooks to the Beaver, Butler and Washington snipers group chat. The Beaver sniper notes Crooks was using “a range finder looking towards the stage” and recommends that they notify Secret Service snipers to “look out” (texts).
• 5:45 p.m.: A Beaver County sniper sends photos of Crooks to the Beaver County ESU group chat. Beaver law enforcement recommends they alert “command” (texts).

404 | U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa

The Official U.S. Senate website of Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa

www.grassley.senate.gov

Wow, the SS still has not sent any records requested. I wonder if the will subpoena. I wonder if Homeland Security will classify the records and refuse to release.
Moo

 

[Artis]

I don't think he lied. He said he wasn't sure if it was a bullet or a piece of shrapnel. He later clarified it was a bullet or a fragment (shrapnel) from the bullet.
It was everyone else ("gun experts") who were saying maybe the shrapnel could have come from a metal support or something else. imo


The definition of shrapnel is .... "pieces of a bomb, shell, or bullet that has exploded. During wars, many soldiers are treated for shrapnel wounds." Link

“What struck former President Trump in the ear was a bullet, whether whole or fragmented into smaller pieces, fired from the deceased subject’s rifle,”
(from previous links provided)

There was no evidence that it was shrapnel or glass <modsnip - opinion stated as fact> Multiple people shot, a hydraulic boom thing holding up a speaker was pierced and Trump was grazed by a bullet caught on camera by a photographer:

https://static01.nyt.com/images/2024/08/13/us/politics/13election-live-photo-assess/13election-live-photo-assess-superJumbo-v2.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp

 

[Arkay]

I'm not saying that person did a bad job, just that there should have been someone to take over from them at 4pm. Not have a reduced team as the event was starting.

Oh, I definitely agree.

My point was that perhaps the agent signing off had done the advance preparation, and a full complement of not already exhausted agents would be taking over immediately.

I don’t blame the agent for clocking out because I presume he’d already put in a full day, and was apparently trying to alert the next shift as to what he’d identified by then.

Of course the ball was dropped somewhere.

Jmo

 

[Artis]

Exactly. My concern is the lack of sufficient security. There should have been adequate roof top surveillance. And I want to know why they dropped the ball on the basics, like a face to face with local LE. That’s a serious oversight at the onset. It’s likely if that was performed correctly that there might not be any fatalities or injuries.

I think a quick video mtg between a point person from each side in advance of the rally would be a good place to start. They need to tighten up their game.

A 9th grader could have looked at the aerials of that site and seen the danger.

 

[Simply Southern]

I'm surprised they would use someone who would only be available till 4:00 p.m, given that the speaker was due to start at 5pm.

According to the back and forth text messages, they were having a difficult time recruiting officers. The text stated many on vacations, out sick, and they agreed to do split shifts if they needed to to fill the positions.
Per Senator Grassley documents
Moo

 

[Arkay]

Text chat before rally shooting shows cops trying to find shift cover

New text messages reveal local law enforcement officers working former President Donald Trump's Butler, Pennsylvania, rally were severely understaffed ahead of the attempted assassination.

www.dailymail.co.uk

More from Sen. Grassley regarding Butler LE text messages. Too many local LE that were on vacation, or otherwise unavailable to stay for two shifts or even to show up at all.

If SS was aware of this they should’ve closed down the rally, although Trump would’ve been livid, IMO. He thrives on these rallies but obviously safety must come first.

ETA: just saw @Simply Southern already posted the same.

It seems to me this is the cause of the breakdown in security. Not enough personnel and therefore not enough agents and local LE to ensure a safe situation.

I imagine they do this so often that it can start to feel rote, and that’s when people die.

IMO

 

[Artis]

Oh, I definitely agree.

My point was that perhaps the agent signing off had done the advance preparation, and a full complement of not already exhausted agents would be taking over immediately.

I don’t blame the agent for clocking out because I presume he’d already put in a full day, and was apparently trying to alert the next shift as to what he’d identified by then.

Of course the ball was dropped somewhere.

Jmo

Actually, I disagree about that. I would find it extremely odd to have split shifts for an event like that. Agents coming in late in the day would barely be able to get the lay of the land and the feel of the surroundings at 4PM.

 

[Luna20]

CBS evening news just released a new timeline of 100.3 minutes.

There will be a hearing tomorrow with the new guy.

 

[steeltowngirl]

"We were supposed to get a face-to-face briefing with the Secret Service snipers whenever they arrived, and that never happened," Jason Woods, a Beaver County SWAT lead sharpshooter, told ABC News.

The Beaver County SWAT team told ABC News that though some security team was on-site days earlier, that team never met with them, as is protocol.
[…]

Sergeant Gregory Nicol of the Monaca Police Department also spoke during the ABC News interview, saying, "We had a text group between the local snipers that were on scene. I sent those pictures out to that group and advised them of what I noticed and what I had seen."

Beaver County SWAT team points to communication issues ahead of Trump assassination attempt

Shocking allegations from the local SWAT team tasked with securing the rally for former President Donald Trump earlier this month in Butler County.

www.cbsnews.com