US agencies blame one another for not
Secret Service, the FBI and Homeland Security are being investigated by Congress over shooting
THE US Secret Service failed to protect Donald Trump by allowing a “direct line of sight” from the shooter to the stage, the Biden administration admitted last night, as law enforcement agencies blamed each other for the attack.
Alejandro Mayorkas, Joe Biden’s Homeland Security Secretary, said the government’s failings would be fully investigated, as Trump said he was “supposed to be dead”.
The Secret Service, which is assigned to protect former presidents, blamed Pennsylvania police for failing to secure the rooftop used by Thomas Crooks to shoot at Trump on Saturday.
Crooks, 20, was killed by agents at the rally in Butler County near Pittsburgh seconds after he opened fire. One crowd member was killed and two were critically injured, although Trump survived with a wound to his right ear.
Richard Goldinger, the county’s district attorney, said the Secret Service was “in charge” of the event, disputing the agency’s claim that local police were at fault.
Kimberly Cheatle, the Secret Service director, said yesterday that she would work to “prevent an incident like this from ever taking place again”. Republicans claimed she was unfit for her role and had been hired because of diversity, equality and inclusion policies.
Mr Mayorkas, who has overall responsibility for the agency, admitted that the incident should never have taken place, but did not assign blame.
“A direct line of sight like that to the former president should not occur,” he told ABC News. “That’s why President Biden directed an independent review of the incident.”
The review is understood to be investigating why the rooftop, which was around 150m from Trump, was outside the secure zone created for his rally.
The Secret Service is also under pressure to explain why warnings from passers-by were not heeded in the minutes before Crooks opened fire.
Trump arrived in Milwaukee for the Republican Party’s national convention on Sunday evening. He was celebrating after a court in Florida dismissed a major criminal case against him, in which he was accused of improperly storing classified documents at his home after leaving the White House.
Aileen Cannon, the judge in the case, agreed with Trump’s legal team that the special prosecutor appointed to lead the US government’s efforts had been illegally appointed, because the role was not announced by Mr Biden or cleared by the US Senate.
The decision eliminates one of the major legal headaches facing Trump ahead of the election on Nov 5.
Writing on Truth Social, his online platform, Trump said it would be the “first step” in his mission of “Uniting our Nation after the horrific events on Saturday”. Shares in Truth Social rose as much as 50 per cent yesterday, increasing the former president’s wealth by nearly $1.8bn (£1.4bn).
Ahead of the convention, Trump said it was a “miracle” that he had survived, by tilting his head to look at a screen in the moment before the bullet struck his ear. “The doctor at the hospital said he never saw anything like this. He called it a miracle,” he said. “I’m not supposed to be here. I’m supposed to be dead.”
Trump, who launched a new “unity” message in the 48 hours after the assassination attempt, received a boost in the polls yesterday, as a new survey showed he is just three points behind Mr Biden in Virginia, which the US president won by a considerable margin in 2020.
He is also ahead in Pennsylvania, a poll conducted by Siena College found. The survey was taken before the shooting took place in the state.
The FBI’S investigation into the shooting has not yet unearthed a motive for the shooting by Crooks. His neighbours in Bethel Park told The Telegraph he was a quiet man who lived with well-respected parents.
“He was really kind of meek looking and timid,” said Kelly Little, who lives opposite the family. “He looked like a nerd.” A former schoolmate said Crooks was “nice, but a little weird”.
The Clairton Sportsmen’s Club, a local gun club, confirmed that Crooks was a member. A spokesman said the organisation condemned the “senseless act of violence” he committed.
Two bystanders were also wounded and a father was killed after Crooks opened fire with an AR-15 rifle while the former president addressed his supporters.
Video footage from the moments before the shooting showed several people pointing at Crooks on the roof of a building about 130ft from where Trump was speaking before he began firing. Crooks is clearly visible in the video, and can be seen dropping to his front and lying down before rolling on the roof and crawling forward on his hands and knees. As Crooks rolls, a male voice shouts, “Officer!” Two women start shouting, “He’s on the roof!” and pointing. Based on the footage, it estimated that law enforcement had two minutes to stop Crooks from the moment he was spotted.
It has now emerged that the roof of the building where the shooter was located was identified as a “vulnerability” by the Secret Service days before the event. The building, located outside the security perimeter, is owned by a glass research company and is next to the Butler Farm Show venue where the rally was held. The Secret Service confirmed it relied on local police to secure
‘The Secret Service ran the show. They were the ones who designated who did what’
the outer perimeter, which it maintained was standard practice for such events. It blamed local police for the failure to secure the roof or post someone on the building. A spokesman told CNN its agents did not sweep the building but relied on local law enforcement to secure the location.
A source said one of two local counter-sniper teams were supposed to cover the building, which was marked out in the security plan for the event.
The use of local officers, who may not have the same elite training as the Secret Service, was questioned by lawmakers, amid concerns over a lack of resources for the agency. A local policeman did spot the shooter before the attack, but failed to stop him after Crooks aimed his rifle at the officer, forcing him to back down a ladder. Butler County Sheriff Michael T. Slupe said the officer was gripping the edge of the roof, and could not reach his gun, when the shooter aimed at him. “He lets go because he doesn’t want to get killed,” he said. Local officers have hit back at the Secret Service with Pennsylvania State Police lieutenant colonel George Bivens saying: “Secret Service always has the lead on securing something like this.” Butler County District Attorney Richard Goldinger said Secret Service agents were in overall charge of security outside the venue.
“The Secret Service ran the show. They were the ones who designated who did what,” he said. “To me, the whole thing is under the jurisdiction of the Secret Service.”
Congress is investigating the response by the Secret Service, FBI and Department of Homeland Security, with both Republican and Democrat lawmakers raising concerns.
US Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle said yesterday the agency would “participate fully” in an independent review ordered by President Joe Biden and that it would work with Congress on “any oversight action”.
She is set to testify before a committee of the US House of Representatives on July 22. Pressure on her continued to build yesterday after smartphone footage appeared to show police had time to stop Crooks, 20, before he began shooting.
Secret Service chief Ms Cheatle served as an agent in the force for 27 years. She served in Mr Biden’s personal security detail, when he was vicepresident before she joined Pepsi as security head.
She returned to the Secret Service to be appointed the agency’s second ever female chief by Mr Biden in 2022.
A Republican Congressman blamed her support for a diversity drive for security failures, which have led to calls for her resignation.
Tim Burchett singled out the Secret Service’s adoption of “DEI” – an acronym for diversity, equity and inclusion – for blame after the shooting.
“Somebody really dropped the ball. You’ve got a DEI person, a DEI initiative person who heads up our secret service,” the representative for Tennessee told Fox News. “This is what happens when you don’t put the best players in.”
The Secret Service has a goal of increasing women in the maledominated agency to 30 per cent by 2030 but critics claim female agents are not as effective as their male counterparts. Right-wing commentators have zeroed in on footage of a female agent’s apparent struggles to holster her weapon after the shooting.
Crooks purchased 50 rounds of ammunition on the day of the shooting as it also emerged his father owned more than 20 firearms. He had travelled to a local gun store hours before clambering onto the rooftop on the edge of the Butler Farm Show Grounds and opening fire on the former president minutes into his speech. The AR-15 style rifle he used was one of those legally purchased by his father, CNN reported.
It also came as former classmates of Crooks’ revealed he had been rejected from his school’s rifle club because of his poor aim.
Classmates at Bethel Park High, where the shooter graduated from in 2022, described him as an intelligent student with few friends. He liked to play chess and video games and was learning computer coding.
Jameson Myers, who attended both elementary and high school with the suspect, said Crooks had attended trials for their school’s rifle team, but had been asked not to return after “preseason”. “He didn’t just not make the team, he was asked not to come back because how bad of a shot he was, it was considered like, dangerous,” Mr Myers told ABC News.
An anonymous member of the team, cited in the report by ABC, said Crooks “wasn’t really fit for the rifle team”. They added: “He also shot terrible.”
Crooks’ former classmates largely described him as an intelligent, but quiet, student, who was not considered capable of attempting the assassination of a former president.
‘He was asked not to come back because of how bad a shot he was. It was considered dangerous’
‘People would say he was the student who was most likely to shoot up the school’