Former first lady Melania Trump wants to know why law enforcement did not arrest would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks before he opened fire on former President Donald J. Trump at the July 13 campaign rally in Butler Township, Pennsylvania.
“The attempt to end my husband’s life was a horrible, distressing experience,” the former first lady said in a video posted Sept. 10 on X. “Now, the silence around it feels heavy.”
“I cannot help but wonder, why didn’t law enforcement officials arrest the shooter before the speech?” Mrs. Trump continued. “There is definitely more to this story, and we need to uncover the truth.”
In the nearly two months since the Butler shooting, the assassination attempt has slipped from the headlines as nearly a dozen federal and state investigations churn away with sporadic public updates.
The U.S. House-appointed Task Force on the Attempted Assassination of Donald J. Trump is gathering records from local and state authorities. The task force recently asked the Butler County coroner and the Allegheny County medical examiner for a copy of the autopsy done on Crooks, who was killed by a Secret Service sniper after he fired eight shots into the crowd.
The task force has also asked for transcribed interviews with local law enforcement and for a slew of documents from the Secret Service, Department of Homeland Security, and local officials on the security planning for the July 13 event.
Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs investigators have been conducting transcribed interviews with officials involved in the Butler rally.
The FBI’s updated timeline says that Crooks, 20, accessed the roof of the American Glass Research complex at 6:05 p.m., then made his way south across several buildings in the complex before selecting a shooting perch. He opened fire at 6:11:32 p.m.
A Pennsylvania state trooper posted under a nearby water tower spotted Crooks at 6:08 p.m. and put out a radio dispatch warning, “There’s someone on the roof.” The Secret Service never heard that broadcast because it had no shared communications system with state and local police.
Specially programmed radios set up for the Secret Service were not only never used but never even picked up by Secret Service officials, according to local law enforcement sources and U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.).
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Politics, Melania trump, Assassination attempt, Butler shooting, Butler pa, Trump shooting
