A law enforcement officer assigned to guard the roof from which a would-be assassin fired at former President Donald J. Trump abandoned the post due to hot weather, U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) said July 22.
In a letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Hawley said whistleblowers who approached his office said a specific individual was assigned to guard the roof of Building 6 at the American Glass Research complex just north of the fairgrounds where Trump was shot July 13.
“There was supposed to be a law-enforcement presence on the roof that day,” Hawley wrote. “In fact, the whistleblower alleges that at least one individual was specifically assigned to the roof for the duration of the rally, but this person abandoned his or her post due to the hot weather.”
According to AccuWeather, the temperature in Butler on July 13 reached a high of 91 degrees.
The FBI said Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, of Bethel Park, Pa., shot Trump with an AR-15-style rifle from the roof of Building 6, about 130 yards from the podium where Trump was speaking to tens of thousands of supporters.
Only a perfectly timed turn of his head milliseconds before the bullet arrived prevented Trump from suffering a massive head wound and instant death. The bullet sliced across the top of Trump’s right ear, causing him to flinch and drop to the ground.
‘Was there a stand-down order, Ms. Cheatle? Was there a conspiracy to kill President Trump?’
Multiple investigations launched since July 13 are seeking to determine how Crooks was allowed to access the roof and get six or more shots off before he was killed by a Secret Service counter-sniper.
Crooks was spotted by a local police counter-sniper and flagged as a suspicious person at 5:10 p.m., according to a report from Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), a member of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. The committee oversees the Secret Service, which is part of the Department of Homeland Security.
Two photos taken by the counter-sniper at 5:14 p.m. showed Crooks standing along a retaining wall on one end of Building 6. At 5:32 p.m., the counter-sniper spotted Crooks looking at his phone and using a range finder, ostensibly to estimate the distance to the Trump podium.
At 5:38 p.m., the counter-sniper informed his sniper group about Crooks. Two minutes later, he was told to “call in to command” regarding the suspicious person, according to Johnson’s July 21 report. At 5:41, he called the command center with a description of Crooks, who was “lurking around [the] AGR building.”
At 5:49 p.m., the counter-sniper sent the photos of Crooks to the Butler Emergency Services Unit command. A confirmation of receipt was not issued for six minutes, Johnson’s report said.
‘We’re supposed to trust her investigation? Truly disgraceful.’
At 5:59 p.m., a Beaver County operator received confirmation that the command center, “which included Secret Service,” was aware of the messages and asked which direction Crooks was moving. At 6:05 p.m., the local counter-sniper reported that Crooks was moving northeast carrying a backpack.
Even though bystanders near Building 6 shouted that Crooks was shimmying up the slightly sloped roof with a rifle at least two minutes before shots were fired, neither police nor Secret Service ground teams intercepted him.
In a U.S. House hearing on Capitol Hill, Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle was repeatedly grilled about what time her agents determined that Crooks was no longer just suspicious but a direct threat to Trump and rally-goers. She eventually said it was mere “seconds” before Crooks fired the first shot.
Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle hammered at Cheatle to resign.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) asked whether a stand-down order was given in order to kill Trump.
“The people there knew that there was a danger, there was a threat to President Trump, and it was allowed to happen,” Greene said. “Was there a stand-down order, Ms. Cheatle? Was there a conspiracy to kill President Trump?”
Cheatle replied: “Absolutely not.”
Johnson said the director trotted out nothing but tired excuses.
“Cheatle is using ‘it’s only nine days out’ as an excuse for not having basic information that should have been known within hours,” Johnson wrote on X. “And we’re supposed to trust her investigation? Truly disgraceful.”
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