 |
| Jeff Swensen/Getty |
The Secret Service is now under scrutiny after an assassination attempt nearly succeeded on former President Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican 2024 presidential nominee.
The shooter, identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, was able to position himself on a rooftop with a direct line of sight to Trump and fire a bullet that went through his ear.
The shooter was approximately 150 yards away from where Trump was speaking.
Multiple witnesses also claimed they tried to flag the shooter to the Secret Service and police.
The shooter was so close and visible that even some rally-goers spotted the shooter and took video as he was attempting to assassinate Trump.
Rally-goer Michael Difrischia, who captured the moment the shooter fired and was fired upon, told TMZ that he and his wife Amber were watching the Trump rally from outside the main grounds with about 30 to 40 other people.
He said his wife noticed Crooks climbing up onto a nearby building.
They and others said they watched him crawling up the side of the building to with a rifle before he took a shot.
In addition, another rally-goer told the BBC he noticed the shooter and attempted to flag the police and Secret Service for at least three to four minutes prior to the shooting.
He said about five to seven minutes after Trump began speaking:
…we noticed the guy crawling army, you know, bear crawling up the roof of the building beside us 50 feet away from us. So we’re standing there, you know, we’re pointing, we’re pointing at the guy crawling up the roof… .
We could clearly see him with a rifle. Absolutely. We’re pointing at him. The police are down there running around on the ground. We’re like, ‘Hey, man, there’s a guy on the roof with a rifle.’ And the police were like, ‘Huh? What?’
You know, like, like, they didn’t know what was going on. You know, we’re like, ‘Hey, right here on the roof. We can see from right here. We see him. You know, he’s, he’s crawling.’ And next thing you know, I’m like, I’m thinking to myself, I’m like, ‘Why is Trump still speaking? Why have they not pulled him off the stage?’ I’m standing there pointing at him for you know, two, three minutes. Secret Service is looking at us from the top of the barn. I’m pointing at that roof, just standing there like this. And next thing, you know, five shots ring out… .
… We were telling the police, we were pointing at him for the Secret Service who were looking at us from the top of the barn. They were looking at us the whole time that we were standing by that tree… . But they used binoculars..because the roof the way the slope went, he was behind where they could see. But why is there not Secret Service on all of these roofs here? I mean, this is not a big place.
The witness said he saw the Secret Service fire back at the shooter, killing him. --->LOTS MORE HERE
Former Navy Seal and Blackwater founder Erik Prince gave a detailed assessment of yesterday's Secret Service debacle in the wake of a failed assassination attempt on former President Trump.
"Hopefully after the tragedy yesterday in Butler PA we can all recognize that unaccountable bloated bureaucracies continue to fail us as Americans," Prince posted to X.
Continued (emphasis ours):
Donald J Trump is alive today solely due to a bad wind estimate by an evil would be assasin [sic].
As the graphics show the full value wind of just 5mph was enough to displace the unconfirmed but likely light 55 grain bullet two inches from DJT's intended forehead to his ear.
DJT was not saved by USSS brilliance. The fact that USSS allowed a rifle armed shooter within 150yds to a preplanned event is either malice or massive incompetence. Clearly there was adequate uncontrolled dead space for a shooter to move into position and take multiple aimed shots. Watching the newsreel one can hear how proximate the shooter is by the very short time lapse between the crack of arriving bullet (supersonic) to the boom of muzzle blast (sonic).
The law enforcement sniper (unclear if USSS) in newsreels was clearly overwhelmed as his face came off his rifle instead of doing his job to kill the shooter. Clearly they were watching the shooter but apparently have a no "first shot" policy. The only positive action was an apparent 488yd shot by one USSS sniper which despatched the assasin but after the assassin launched at least 5 rounds, wounding DJT and killing and severely others in the crowd.
The sniper was already watching the shooter. Why didn’t he shoot first! 🤔 pic.twitter.com/Ts72wqdG4t
— GentlemanJack (@xGentleManJack) July 14, 2024
In my old business of providing Diplomatic Security in two active war zones we were expected to execute the basics or we would be fired. Clearly USSS failed at the basics of a secure perimeter and once shots were fired their extraction was clumsy and left DJT highly exposed to follow on attacks. It looked like they had never drilled together because those responses should be effectively autonomic. Will there be accountability? That's not the Washington way.
Unserious and unworthy people in positions of authority got us to this near disaster. Merit and execution must be the only deciding factors in hiring and leadership, not the social engineering priority of the day. Sadly nothing in Washington reflects that any longer. DJT is right to question the competence of those protecting him because yesterday they failed in almost every way. Nature abhors a vacuum and there are always other options.
Most importantly, as Americans let's come together and run a proper valid election so we can get back to what matters a merit based society that judges on character and skill. Nothing else. --->LOTS MORE HERE
If you like what you see, please "Like" and/or Follow us on FACEBOOK here, GETTR here, and TWITTER here.
No comments:
Post a Comment