Each new detail that emerges from the investigation into the attack on Donald Trump last Saturday at a farm in Butler, Pennsylvania, leaves the US Secret Service, responsible for protecting the former president, in an even worse light, and especially its director: Kimberly Cheatle. One of the latest stains on the performance of the security force during the rally that the Republican candidate was giving before thousands of his followers came on Wednesday, when it was learned that the local police warned them before it began that their agents lacked the resources to control the space around the venue.
The building on whose roof Thomas Crooks, the 20-year-old who shot and nearly killed Trump, climbed was in that area. Not only that: before the event began, an hour late, Crooks’ suspicious behavior alerted local agents. They saw him walking around, carrying a large backpack on his shoulder and looking through the lens of a rangefinder at the rooftops surrounding the designated stage location. The agents took a photo of him and radioed in. The Secret Service received the information, and then the guy vanished without a trace.
The dozens of agents deployed for the event received his image. After a while, one of the snipers in charge of the former president’s security saw him again. He also took a photo of him. The trail went cold again until several witnesses saw him climb a low-rise industrial building from which he aimed at Trump from a distance of 135 meters.
The decision to allow plans to go ahead to hold the rally at such an exposed location, with a suspect spotted and then lost in the crowd, is now being heavily questioned. Eight minutes into Trump’s speech, Crooks fired a volley of bullets from his AR-15 assault rifle. One of them appeared to graze Trump’s ear.
The gunshot wounds killed Corey Comperatore, 50, a staunch Trump supporter and firefighter who, according to witnesses, “died like a hero” protecting his family. David Dutch, 57, from New Kensington, and James Copenhaver, 74, from Moon Township, Pennsylvania, were also wounded. Both remain in stable condition. Trump has announced that he will attend Comperatore’s funeral, in whose memory a vigil was held on Wednesday in the nearby town of Sarver.
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BREAKING: US Senators chase down USSS director Kimberly Cheatle in Milwaukee at the RNC.
The footage below was shared by Senator Marsha Blackburn.
The mad rush came just after the House Oversight and Accountability Committee issued a subpoena, demanding that Cheatle appear… pic.twitter.com/bClTZ2o2Z2
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) July 18, 2024
“I am deeply concerned that the Secret Service knew there was a threat before President Trump took the stage,” Tennessee Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn wrote on X on Wednesday. The conservative, along with another senator from her party, John Barrasso (Wyoming), was the protagonist of one of the most talked-about incidents of the third day of the Republican National Convention, which is being held in Milwaukee (Wisconsin). It was when they confronted Director Cheatle in the corridors of the place where the conservative party meeting is being held, amidst heavy security measures, redoubled after the incident on Saturday. “It was an assassination attempt. You owe the people an answer. You owe President Trump an answer,” Blackburn is heard saying in the clip shared on X, in which the two senators are seen chasing the head of the Secret Service.
Citation at the Capitol
The director had received a subpoena that day from the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability to appear on Monday and give explanations about the attempted attack. In an interview with ABC News, Cheatle, who on Sunday sent a memo to his staff congratulating them on their work, admitted “full responsibility” for what happened, but refused to resign. Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretary of Homeland Security, described Saturday’s events as “a complete failure” in an appearance at the White House, although he reaffirmed his confidence in Cheatle. The president has ordered an independent investigation.
New details about Crooks are gradually emerging beyond those initially known: that he was a 20-year-old boy, that his political sympathies are unclear – he had recently registered as a Republican although he also made a token donation to the Democrats in 2020 – and that he was the classic withdrawn student who was tormented by bullies in his class.
On his cellphones and other electronic devices, the FBI found that he stored images of Trump, but also of Biden, Attorney General Merrick B. Garland and even FBI Director Christopher A. Wray, all of whom were trusted officials of the president. There were also photos of Rudy Giuliani, a confidant of former President Trump, and of the House Majority and Minority Leaders, Mike Johnson (Republican) and Hakeem Jeffries (Democrat). His search history included a query about “major depressive disorder” and also dates and locations of Biden and Trump rallies. Crooks lived in Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, about 50 miles from the scene of the shooting.
It is unclear how far in advance he planned the attack. Trump’s appearance in Butler was made public on July 3. The day before his attempted assassination, Crooks trained at a shooting range. On the morning of the shooting, he bought a ladder from a hardware store, as well as 50 rounds of ammunition from a local gun shop for the AR-15 his father had bought 11 years ago.
These days, American media are sharing testimonies from acquaintances of the boy who are trying to shed some light on the darkness of his motivations, which are yet to be fully clarified. The FBI has conducted more than 100 interviews, but, according to its agents, the Crooks enigma is still far from being solved.
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