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

[SpanishInquisition]

Senator Ted Cruz focused on SS agents accountability for the failures.

Rowe repeatly said ...
I will not put my thumb on the scale and rush to judgment. I will not rush to judgment. He's concerned about the staff in the Pittsburgh office, morale is so low, they are so upset.

He stated they only hired the best, out of 700 applications they hire less than 15. They only hired the best of the best.
(Moo Rowe is delaying investigation due to personal feelings of SS employees. If the Pittsburgh agents are the best of the best... why are they so emotional and whining. They shouldn't need comfort and reassurance. The best stand up and tell the truth and take responsibility. Isn't that the problem we have with the former director)

Cruz rebuttal... A former president was shot, a person died, several severely injured and you're telling me these agents are still on duty. That no one has been reprimanded, fired, placed on leave. Are you telling me that you haven't reviewed who broke protocol? And that that person is not being punished. It's 17 days later.

Rowe continues to defend his staff and repeatedly states local LE was responsible for the AGR building.

Cruz again, why wasn't a site supervisor SS agents roaming the venue and especially overhead, since the SS drone system didn't work.
Rowe ... We should have excepted the PSP offer of drones.

When questioned how many agents he had there that day.
Rowe responded 70 "including those pre and post event". We still don't know exactly how many were on site the actual day during the event. (Moo, he's playing games, delaying facts)

Cruz, .... it was reported that agents were pulled from the Trump rally to cover Jill Bidens event.
After much yelling back and forth...
Rowe admitted agents were pulled to go to the airport for Jill Biden.

Cruz ask how many agents or the ratio performer president Trump events and Biden events.

Rowe refused to answer, said it's not the same, Biden has nuclear capabilities. (This was Jill's event). He refused repeatedly to give the ratio.

Cruz formally request the information, committee approved.

My opinion only of today's Congressional hearing

I think Rowe is actually trying to protect himself by not releasing anyone to speak, like I think this was more a management problem than an agent problem. This also is showing all the more that the volunteer unpaid sniper who briefly left their position - but the position itself was still manned - did the right thing in quickly trying to locate the Suspicious Person since other LE hadn't found him and Secret Service wasn't going to do anything there. It is also totally unacceptable that the Secret Service continues to disclaim responsibility for that area - they can't outsource that responsibility that way. What if some Iranian Revolutionary Guard sniper showed up at the AGR building to avenge General Soleimani? If the Secret Service expects the Butler County ESU or most any other local police force to defend against special operations conducted by foreign nations, the Secret Service really had better think about how they operate.

 

[Fabled Automatic]

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

To be fair, that is a bullet. We don't know if it is  the bullet that allegedly hit Trump.

There is a close up video of that side of Trump's head but, interestingly enough, it is edited to remove the moment Trump gets hit.

 

[shotgun09]

So far, the SS fabulous and fantastical excuses have me flummoxed.
We had " Iran"
We had 'sloped roofs'
And, of course the finger pointing to the Locals.

Today, early on in the hearing Acting Director Rowe said this:
"What happened on July 13th was a 'Failure of Imagination' ", regarding just how a 20 year old loner was able to evade them.

Ummm......This ain't Disneyland, my friend. This is reality.

MOO

 

[Fabled Automatic]

“There was a woman to my right shielding me. A beautiful person. She was shielding me with everything she could.”

He continued: “She got criticized by the fake news because she wasn’t tall enough. She was criticized and she was so brave.”

Trump said that one of the women who bundled him off the Pennsylvania stage “was shielding me with everything. She wanted to take a bullet”.

Trump defends ‘beautiful’ female Secret Service agent who faced backlash after shooting

‘There was a woman to my right shielding me. A beautiful person,’ former president said during Minnesota rally this past weekend

uk.news.yahoo.com

I'm glad he came out and said this. That poor woman received way too much unnecessary criticism just for doing her job and risking her life for his and the country.

 

[Tutter]

I agree. It's clear the attempt happened, and that it was a serious security failure that killed an innocent man. Trump said the bullet "ripped through" his ear. Ronny Jackson, Trump's former Physician, said the bullet had "produced a 2cm wide wound that extended down to the cartilaginous surface of the ear". We are all looking for the truth. It isn't possible for that to have completely healed by now, without scabs or any indication of injury. Why mischaracterize the injury? MOO

What was mischaracterized? Someone shot at him, his ear was hit. It bled. He got medical care. Two weeks later there has been some healing.
What do you want Mr Trump to say about his ear that would satisfy you?

 

[Fabled Automatic]

Trump Gunman Possibly Linked With Social Media Account Showing Antisemitic And Anti-Immigration Themes, FBI Says

 

[tlcya]

Crooks was live-streaming the event on a drone, according to the FBI, which has conducted over 450 interviews, and viewed laptops, hard drives and other devices.
Trump Gunman Possibly Linked With Social Media Account Showing Antisemitic And Anti-Immigration Themes, FBI Says

apologies if this has been covered, but do we know to WHERE Crooks was livestreaming? Like to or on any specific platform? I mean, if you are live streaming, there is an intended audience right? Else why bother?

 

[Tutter]

Wow! From the video LE was alerted and surrounding the building, for at least 3-1/2 minutes before the first shots were fired. And I have no idea how long this had been going on before the guy started filming so it could have been more than 3-1/2 minutes.

You can hear President Trump speaking and no one thought to remove him from the stage?

I will add - the guy that filmed said he had his phone taken and he was handcuffed and arrested.

imo

I hope he hasn’t had an unfortunate accident…

 

[Elley Mae]

Crooks was live-streaming the event on a drone, according to the FBI, which has conducted over 450 interviews, and viewed laptops, hard drives and other devices.
Trump Gunman Possibly Linked With Social Media Account Showing Antisemitic And Anti-Immigration Themes, FBI Says

apologies if this has been covered, but do we know to WHERE Crooks was livestreaming? Like to or on any specific platform? I mean, if you are live streaming, there is an intended audience right? Else why bother?

He was live streaming to get a birds eye view of the rally area, looking at the area in real time.

Livestreaming with Camera Drones: All You Need to Know - DJI Store

Choosing the right drone, equipping it with the best accessories, and understanding the often-asked questions—all of these are vital steps in your livestreaming journey. So gear up, let's delve into the world of camera drones and livestreaming with an eye toward getting you airborne and your...

store.dji.com

 

[Elley Mae]

It was said thst they know the route of the drone and what he could see but it was not recorded.

 

[layer]

Trump Gunman Possibly Linked With Social Media Account Showing Antisemitic And Anti-Immigration Themes, FBI Says

Sort of reminds me of Lee Harvey Oswald...

in a post to X, formerly Twitter on Tuesday, Gab CEO Andrew Torba said, "The FBI is now claiming that the Trump shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks had an unspecified 'social media account' in 2019/2020 (when he was 14/15 years old) that posted 'anti-immigrant and anti-semitic' content. This is not consistent with Gab's understanding of the shooter's motives based on an Emergency Disclosure Request ("EDR") we received from the FBI last week for the Gab account 'EpicMicrowave' which, based on the content of that EDR, the FBI appeared to think belonged to Thomas Crooks," Torba said. "The story is this: the account for which data was requested was, UNEQUIVOCALLY, pro-Biden and in particular pro-Biden's immigration policy."
"To the best of Gab's knowledge, as of 2021, Crooks was a pro-lockdown, pro-immigration, left-wing Joe Biden supporter," Torba added in his post.

Conflicting Accounts of Trump Shooter Thomas Crooks' Social Media Emerge

 

[tlcya]

Sort of reminds me of Lee Harvey Oswald...

Conflicting Accounts of Trump Shooter Thomas Crooks' Social Media Emerge

it would be nice if we knew which specific account and on what platform that the director of the FBI was referring to when testifying. We don't know if the account at Gab the CEO is tweeting about is the same one Abbate was referencing.

more on Gab and its CEO Torba
Gab (social network) - Wikipedia

 

[SouthAussie]

I'm glad he came out and said this. That poor woman received way too much unnecessary criticism just for doing her job and risking her life for his and the country.

Yes, that was really quite necessary.
People who are unfairly criticised for their work performance may tend to not do their job so well in the future. It can build up an internal resentment. imo

 

[Donswife48]

Moo... Rowe continuously defended the SS agents from the Pittsburgh office involved.
He frequently talked about the morale in the Pittsburgh office, how emotional they were, how it is affecting the staff, being accused in the media. He has full confidence in his staff in the Pittsburgh office.

Many reminded him this incident, lack of transparency, lack of accountability, has ruined the reputation of the SS in many Americans eyes.

No one has been reprimanded or removed from service. He's going to wait for the process and procedures to play out.

Keep in mind, the Pittsburgh office is going to be responsible for the next Butler rally. I'm very concerned, agents are depressed sad, sounded like a real pity party.

From today's hearing
Moo

Oh my, SS agents are emotional? That's a slap in the face of the families of the ones killed or injured. This needs to be addressed, if SS agents are that fragile, they need to be replaced by the military. Every time something like this is said about the security of our government figures, it is weakening us in the eyes of the countries that would like to destroy us. Rowe probably needs to just answer the questions, and some agency needs to reassure us and the world that we're not a bunch of emotional wrecks. Meanwhile, I still can't believe that a 20yr old could be brazen enough to think that the building roofs weren't going to be manned, that he could easily walk in with a rifle, climb a roof and take a shot at Trump. Who does this on their own, without anyone knowing? MOO

 

[SouthAussie]

Oh my, SS agents are emotional? That's a slap in the face of the families of the ones killed or injured. This needs to be addressed, if SS agents are that fragile, they need to be replaced by the military.

The military are also human beings, as are the SS. When dealing with staff (of any organisation), they need to be praised for what they did right, and improved upon for what they did wrong.

It does no good continually slamming them for any mistakes that may have been made along the way.
You find the areas of concern, and tighten them up. Without destroying everyone's morale - which enables personal growth and the strength of the organisation.

(Speaking from a managerial aspect)

imo

 

[Simply Southern]

I think Rowe is actually trying to protect himself by not releasing anyone to speak, like I think this was more a management problem than an agent problem. This also is showing all the more that the volunteer unpaid sniper who briefly left their position - but the position itself was still manned - did the right thing in quickly trying to locate the Suspicious Person since other LE hadn't found him and Secret Service wasn't going to do anything there. It is also totally unacceptable that the Secret Service continues to disclaim responsibility for that area - they can't outsource that responsibility that way. What if some Iranian Revolutionary Guard sniper showed up at the AGR building to avenge General Soleimani? If the Secret Service expects the Butler County ESU or most any other local police force to defend against special operations conducted by foreign nations, the Secret Service really had better think about how they operate.

Senators were very concerned about no drone coverage for the rally. I can't remember who, gave a scenario of a drone armed by a weapon and the suspect could be miles away.

Rowe kept staying it was local LE responsibility to secure the outer perimeter. The committee members continue to remind him ...the Secret Service IS responsible for protecting former president. Rowe rebuttal with .... It was local LE responsibility and even had large diagrams throwing the blame back on LE.

Rowe was ask ... WHO was the lead agency.
He responded the Secret Service.

The committee would respond ... where was the SS site supervisor. The supervisor should have been roaming the side looking for potential breaches.

I didn't learn anything that has not already been in the media.
Moo... Based on today's Congressional hearing.

 

[Love Never Fails]

The military are also human beings, as are the SS. When dealing with staff (of any organisation), they need to be praised for what they did right, and improved upon for what they did wrong.

It does no good continually slamming them for any mistakes that may have been made along the way.
You find the areas of concern, and tighten them up. Without destroying everyone's morale - which enables personal growth and the strength of the organisation.

(Speaking from a managerial aspect)

imo

<modsnip - off topic>
SS doesn’t have the pleasure of being sad or emotional! They need to be steady, strong and suck it up. It’s their JOB!

 

[Sundog]

I brought up the trees a bit back, it was hard to tell from maps and sometimes the map image is years old so trees would appear smaller. It was nice to see an image of what the shooter could see and the fact that he was very hard to see.

Jmo

Not directed at your post, but bouncing off your post with regard to the issue of "trees" in the way of one of the SS countersniper teams.

Whatever the size of the trees or number of trees, the SS would have had to do a thorough walk-through and analysis of the perimeter and area around the perimeter and if there was a roof in line of sight of the stage and podium, then they would immediately have known that it was an opportunity for a sniper and therefore needed high security. The Acting Director of the Secret Service said today that he went on that roof and lay in a prone position and said he felt ashamed.

He didn't say there was a tree in the way, but that he felt ashamed. That says it all, imo.

 

[ifindedout]

Till the first shot was fired.

Local law enforcement repeatedly notified the local law enforcement lead person in the command center, I leaned Secret Service Agent was in the command center.

Rowe was unable to answer how the Secret Service Command center would communicate to the Secret Service detail. He repeatedly stated... They have their own radio system. There was no one from the Secret Service detail in the command center.
So I assume that they had no way of contacting the detail over a radio they would have had to have physically send a person to the stage. Rowe was very reluctant to give any details about this.

Moo based on the Congressional hearing today
.

IOW, what we've got here is failure to communicate.

 

[Bounceycat]

<modsnip - off topic>
SS doesn’t have the pleasure of being sad or emotional! They need to be steady, strong and suck it up. It’s their JOB!

<modsnip - quoted post was snipped> SS expressing sadness at the outcomes is a natural and human emotion. Would you rather them NOT feel sad for the injury and loss of life?