“Simply put, the evidence collected by the task force to date shows that the tragic and shocking events of July 13 were preventable and should not have happened.”
These stark words are contained in a damning House task force report on the Butler, Pennsylvania, assassination attempt on former President and current Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.
The preliminary report, released Monday, reveals the barrage of scrutiny U.S. intelligence has faced since 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks publicly opened fire on Trump from a rooftop just outside the security perimeter of the event rally opened, killing one participant and injuring two others in addition to the former president.
The task force’s final report is expected on December 13th.
The task force not only found that Crooks (*13*)”under surveillance by the Secret Service’s state and local partners for approximately 40 minutes” before “information about a suspicious individual” reached the USSS command post, but also that three local law enforcement officers noticed Crooks around 5 p.m., ET, and every single one (*13*)Independent concluded that his “conduct and behavior were suspicious.”
There was back and forth communication between local and state law enforcement agencies. However, the report found that effective communication was hampered by the lack of a central command system with intelligence. While I am not an expert on the workings of the USSS or local or state law enforcement agencies, it seems to me that a centralized communications system is the first thing that is put in place for a presidential or former presidential event, especially an open-air rally .
About an hour after local officials first noticed Crooks, the suspected bomber fired eight shots at the rally, hitting Trump and the three attendees before he was killed by a Secret Service sniper. When the shots were fired, those present could be heard shouting “Duck!”
The report states that between approximately 5:38 and 5:51 p.m., “a series of calls and messages were received by the Secret Service regarding the shooter’s description and movements.”
Here is more:
The document also referenced earlier testimony from a Butler Township Police Department witness whose colleague spotted Crooks on the roof just before he opened fire.
This witness said her colleague fell from the roof, which he barely held on to while screaming, “THAT’S AN AR!” ONE AR! ONE AR! A GUY WITH AN AR!”
(*13*)“To date, the task force has received no evidence that the message reached the former president’s USSS team before shots were fired,” the report said.
The report also cited a Butler County Emergency Services United (ESU) witness whose account of the shooting of Crooks appears to refute the USSS’s claim that one of its snipers killed the shooter.
“He fired a single shot from a standing position at Crooks, who was lying on the roof. Butler ESU Witness 5 told the task force that he believes his shot struck Crooks,” the report states.
As my colleague Bob Hoge reported on October 17, the completely incompetent Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas also appointed an independent panel to investigate the intelligence community’s failures following the two confirmed assassination attempts on Trump. In this reportA group of former law enforcement officials have criticized the agency for its ineptitude and Culture of rot.
READ MORE:
Throw out the bums: Independent panel recommends overhaul of entire Secret Service leadership
The House Task Force report also revealed (emphasis mine):
The report also points to logistical problems – particularly from the USSS – in the hours before the rally. (*13*)For example, two command centers were set up for the event, which were confirmed by a witness No one from the Butler Police Department was invited to the USSS hub.
Butler ESU Commander Edward Lenz also told task force personnel that a sniper in his unit advised a USSS agent to retrieve a radio communications device from the command center in order to remain in contact with local and state authorities – but the agent never retrieved it.
According to the report, these included ESU snipers who were not positioned to monitor the building from which Crooks fired, but were located inside the sophisticated not informed about plans to keep an eye on the facility itself.
“Local law enforcement reported this to the task force The Secret Service did not provide Butler ESU and Beaver ESU with information about the placement, role and responsibilities of their snipers… they understood their role to be to monitor the rally venue,” the report said.
Incredible? Given the abject ineptitude of the Biden-Harris administration and officials like Alejandro Mayorkas, Merrick Garland, Antony Blinken, and others. Nothing surprises me.
The conclusion
Regardless of what numerous reports find on the two attacks against Trump, I suspect that the nagging question that will remain in conservatives’ minds is whether the same level of incompetence – intentional or unintentional – would have been present in an attack would or would not A similar event was held by either President Joe Biden or Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris.
Although we cannot know the answer, skepticism will undoubtedly persist.
