The U.S. Secret Service allowed former President Donald J. Trump to go onstage at a huge Pennsylvania rally July 13 even though a local police counter-sniper said the eventual shooter was acting suspiciously and circulated photos of the suspect nearly an hour before the shooting, a U.S. senator said July 21.
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin) issued a preliminary report on the attempted assassination that questioned how the U.S. Secret Service could allow Trump on stage when local police were actively searching for a “suspect” — later identified as would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks — minutes before Crooks opened fire on Trump and the crowd in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Information gathered by Johnson’s office “raises further questions about what the Secret Service did with this information, why Secret Service did not immediately send agents to the AGR [shooting] building and—perhaps most importantly—why former President Trump was allowed to go on stage,” the report said. Johnson is a member of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, which oversees the U.S. Secret Service.
The near-assassination of President Trump has ignited a firestorm on Capitol Hill. The House Committee on Oversight and Accountability issued a subpoena for Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle for a hearing at 10 a.m. ET July 22 in Washington, D.C. Pressure is building for her to resign or be fired by President Joe Biden.
Perched on the slightly sloped roof of Building 6 of the American Glass Research complex about 150 yards from the podium where Trump was speaking, Crooks opened fire with an AR-15-type rifle just after 6:10 p.m. ET July 13. A bullet sliced across Trump’s right ear just milliseconds after the former president tilted his head to the right to view a large chart on video screens. Trump said that head movement saved his life.
Trump’s former presidential doctor, Ronny L. Jackson, examined Trump late July 13 at Trump’s complex in Bedminster, New Jersey. Jackson said the bullet came “less than a quarter of an inch from entering his head.”
The Secret Service was made aware of the local police messages and requested more information on the suspect’s location 12 minutes before shots were fired.
Johnson called for government whistleblowers and shooting witnesses to contact his office via email.
“Anyone who attended the rally—including law enforcement—should carefully memorialize, document, back-up and save any and all potentially relevant information including, but not limited to, security records, video and audio from the rally, proof of attendance at the rally, and eye-witness testimony,” the report said. “It is crucial in the early days of this investigation that all potential evidence is preserved and secured.”
A number of security anomalies cited in the report included the Secret Service skipping a security briefing for local police held at 9 a.m. the day of the rally. Butler County officials handed out a map of the security perimeter, which did not include the American Glass Research complex just north of the Butler Farm Show Inc. fairgrounds.
The Secret Service initially did not intend to send counter-sniper teams to the rally, the report said, so “local law enforcement would need to go ‘sniper heavy’ in order to ensure proper coverage. Local law enforcement learned at least a day before the rally that Secret Service changed course and decided to send two sniper teams.”
The security briefing covered the topic of drones flying above the rally, although the report didn’t specify what was said. Media reports on July 20 said Crooks flew a small drone over the fairgrounds in preparation for his attack on Trump.
The report said police radio communications were “siloed” on different channels that made coordination difficult between local police and the Secret Service. Information had to be relayed in a tag-team fashion between local police and the command center.
Former President Donald J. Trump raises a defiant fist after being shot at a Pennsylvania rally July 13, shouting, “Fight! Fight! Fight!”
Photo by Trump Campaign Office / Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images
Butler County was responsible for assigning locations for the two local counter-sniper teams. There were fewer than 40 local SWAT members and counter-snipers assigned to the rally, the report said. Two counter-snipers were embedded in a two-story AGR building by 10:30 a.m. on Jan. 6.
A local police counter-sniper located in an AGR building just north of the rally grounds first spotted Crooks at 5:10 p.m. and indicated he was acting suspiciously, the report said.
Four minutes later, the police counter-sniper snapped two photos of Crooks near the single-story building that he eventually used as a platform from which to shoot Trump. In one of the photos, Crooks appeared to be reading news articles on his phone, the report said. The photos were circulated to local police.
At 5:28 p.m., the counter-sniper took photos of a bicycle and a backpack near the AGR building. It is not clear if those items were related to Crooks, Johnson’s report said.
At 5:32 p.m., the counter-sniper again spotted Crooks near the AGR building holding a rangefinder, which can be used to estimate distances to a shooting target.
Six minutes later, he sent a message about Crooks to the counter-sniper group. Police have said four counter-sniper teams were active on July 13: two local, one from Pennsylvania State Police, and one from the Secret Service.
At 5:41 p.m., the police counter-sniper called the command center to report Crooks’ appearance and relay that the suspect had a rangefinder. At 5:45 p.m., the counter-sniper texted information about Crooks to the Beaver County Emergency Services Unit and asked that it be relayed to the command center.
A local police sniper took photos of would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks at a retaining wall along the building he used as a perch from which to shoot former President Donald J. Trump on July 13.U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin)
At 5:49 p.m., photos of Crooks were sent to the Butler County ESU command center. Six minutes later, Butler’s command center acknowledged receipt of the photos “and state[d] they have been relayed on,” the report said.
At 5:59 p.m. — 12 minutes before the shooting spree began — a Beaver County law enforcement officer received word that the command center, which included the Secret Service, “was made aware of the messages and requested more information on the suspect’s location,” the report said.
At 6:05 p.m., Butler ESU command center asked the direction Crooks was traveling. The counter-sniper said the suspect was headed northeast carrying a backpack.
The counter-sniper moved to the ground floor of the AGR building where he was based at 6:06 p.m. in order to alert local police on the ground about the suspect.
‘ATF reportedly is using the pictures of Crooks to run facial recognition.’
Shortly after, bystanders spotted Crooks crawling up the roof of AGR’s Building 6 carrying a rifle. Crooks fired his first shot at President Trump just after 6:11 p.m. After a flurry of gunfire, Crooks was struck by an apparent shot to the head from a counter-sniper.
The report said members of the Beaver County SWAT team accessed the roof at 6:23 p.m. and confirmed that Crooks was dead. He was patted down at 6:43 p.m. by police, who found his phone, a transceiver that could be used to trigger explosives, and the rangefinder.
The report questioned why an agent from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives was on the roof near Crooks’ dead body requesting photos of Crooks be sent to a phone number in the 215 area code in the Philadelphia area.
“ATF reportedly is using the pictures of Crooks to run facial recognition,” the report said.
The report said Crooks purchased a 5.5-foot dual aluminum ladder at the Home Depot store in his hometown, Bethel Park, Pennsylvania. It does not appear Crooks used the ladder to access the roof of Building 6.
The day after the shooting, Johnson sent a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray, Attorney General Merrick Garland, and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, asking them to provide answers to 16 questions about the attempted assassination.
Johnson’s July 21 report poses 41 more questions, including how many shell casings were found near Crooks, what was in the backpack he was seen carrying before the shooting, and why the Secret Service was not in direct contact with the counter-sniper teams.
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