Why did Thomas Matthew Crooks try to assassinate former President Donald Trump on July 13? And why did the Secret Service not have eyes on the rooftop from which he fired?
Those are some of the critical questions that remain unanswered one month after the assassination attempt during Mr. Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, shocked the nation and spurred several investigations.
The FBI, which is leading the criminal investigation, has yet to determine Crooks’ motive for the shooting. One of the eight rounds he fired grazed Mr. Trump’s ear. His bullets also hit rallygoers, killing 50-year-old Corey Comperatore and injuring David Dutch, 57, and James Copenhaver, 74.
While acknowledging responsibility for security failures on July 13, the Secret Service has yet to fully explain some of its decisions that created vulnerabilities exploited by Crooks. The results of an internal investigation to identify what went wrong are not expected for at least another month.
“The U.S. Secret Service is fully cooperating with oversight efforts including the House congressional task force, Department of Homeland Security’s independent review panel, Office of the Inspector General and the FBI,” agency spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi said in a statement to The Washington Times. “Our desire to learn from this failure and ensure it never happens again is unwavering and we welcome any and all efforts towards that end.”
The Secret Service must publicly answer why it excluded the AGR International Inc. buildings adjacent to the Butler fairgrounds, where the rally was held, from the official security perimeter for the event. The rooftop from which Crooks fired was the closest of the AGR buildings. Most of the buildings appear to be connected to one another on the ground but have multiple rooftops of varying heights and slopes.
The Secret Service uses magnetometers to screen people entering security perimeters. Had the AGR buildings been included in the rally screening, Crooks would not have been able to get to the rooftop with his AR-15 rifle unless he found a way to breach the security perimeter.
Outside the security perimeter, Crooks was able to walk right up to the cluster of buildings. The FBI said he used HVAC equipment to scale one of the interconnected buildings and traverse the rooftops to access the one closest to the stage where Mr. Trump was speaking.
Why did the Secret Service not have eyes on the rooftop?
Ronald Rowe, the agency’s acting director, testified before two Senate committees on July 30 that he did not have a good explanation after visiting the site and lying on the building where Crooks had positioned himself.
“What I saw made me ashamed,” he said. “As a career law enforcement officer and a 25-year veteran with the Secret Service, I cannot defend why that roof was not better secured.”
Mr. Rowe said local law enforcement partners told his agents who were leading security for the event during a site walk-through that they would cover the AGR complex.
Although local law enforcement eventually spotted Crooks on the roof, they were not able to stop him before he fired at Mr. Trump.
The Butler County Police Department had countersnipers stationed inside one of the buildings.
Mr. Rowe showed a picture during the Senate hearing of what he claimed was a view from a second-story window where those local snipers were stationed. It showed a clear line of sight to where Crooks was positioned to fire at Mr. Trump.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, Iowa Republican, sent a letter to Mr. Rowe last week saying the local countersnipers told his staff that the picture “neither accurately depicts their line of sight and coverage area from their position in the building nor their physical placement within the building.”
A map that the Butler County Police Department provided to him shows the snipers were assigned to cover grassy areas in front of and to the left of their station in the AGR building but not the connected building to the left that Crooks accessed.
Legislators have received inconsistent accounts on whether the local countersnipers were assigned to work from the rooftop of the building or inside. Some said whistleblowers told them they had been assigned to the rooftop but decided to work inside because of the outdoor heat.
“Do any Secret Service records indicate that the local countersnipers were supposed to be located inside, and not outside, the AGR building?” Mr. Grassley asked in his letter to Mr. Rowe.
Mr. Grassley also questioned why the Secret Service had not met with Butler County police since the July 13 shooting.
Another open question is why the Secret Service did not fly a surveillance drone to provide additional oversight of the area.
Sen. Josh Hawley, Missouri Republican, received a report last month from a whistleblower that the Secret Service declined a local law enforcement offer to use drone technology to secure the rally, only to reverse course and ask the locality to deploy its drone to surveil the site in the aftermath of the attack.
Mr. Rowe confirmed that account to Mr. Hawley during the Senate hearing, but he did not explain why the initial offer was rejected.
“We probably should have taken them up on it,” he said.
Mr. Rowe said he has directed the expanded use of drones at Secret Service protective sites moving forward.
Mr. Hawley also pressed Mr. Rowe on why no Secret Service employees had been fired after the assassination attempt. He focused on the lead agent from the Pittsburgh field office who was in charge of security for the Butler rally.
Mr. Rowe said he did not want to rush to judgment before the agency concluded its internal investigation but promised that any employees found to have violated Secret Service protocols would be subject to disciplinary action.
A week after the hearing, Mr. Hawley shared whistleblower accounts that the lead site agent for the Butler rally was inexperienced and incompetent and made decisions that likely compromised the overall security of the event. He sent a letter urging Mr. Rowe to suspend the agent while the claims were investigated.
Another of the many unanswered questions is who is ultimately to blame for the security failures on July 13. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned on July 23 amid calls from lawmakers in both parties to step down.
Senators investigating the assassination attempt have emphasized a need to move quickly, in particular in interviewing witnesses while their memories are fresh and unaltered.
The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee has been conducting interviews with federal and local law enforcement but has not publicly shared any information from those depositions. The Washington Times reached out to the committee for comment.
A special House task force investigating the assassination attempt is just beginning its effort.
The bipartisan panel’s chair and ranking member sent letters to the Secret Service and FBI on Monday asking for all documents provided to various congressional committees and requesting that any further responses to pending requests from House committees be sent to the task force instead.
The House task force leaders also asked the agencies to brief panel staff on the status of outstanding information requests by the end of the week and to discuss the panel’s priorities.
The task force is also working to arrange a visit by members to the Butler rally site, a spokesperson told The Times.
• Lindsey McPherson can be reached at lmcpherson@washingtontimes.com.
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