The head of the Pennsylvania State Police told Congress on Tuesday that the planning for former President Donald Trump’s July 13 rally was no different from dozens of other events coordinated with the Secret Service.
Commissioner Christopher L. Paris did not reveal any major operational failures on the part of state and local police.
But he shared details about their involvement in securing the Butler rally that shed light on the assassination attempt as lawmakers try to find answers about what went wrong and what can be done to prevent similar incidents in the future.
Commissioner Paris told the House Homeland Security Committee that his department had 32 officers working the rally. They provided two primary responsibilities: helping protect Mr. Trump as his motorcade traveled to and from the rally site, and manning posts inside the secure perimeter.
The state police also had two marked vehicles outside of the perimeter to respond to roving needs for any incidents that might arise.
One Pennsylvania state officer was posted in the Secret Service’s command center.
About 20-25 minutes before the shooting, that officer received a text message from a Butler County officer with a picture flagging a suspicious person wandering around the rally site outside of the security perimeter with a rangefinder, according to Commissioner Paris’ testimony.
The state officer then immediately communicated that information to Secret Service agents in the command center.
The person with the rangefinder — later identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, the gunman who tried to kill Mr. Trump — had already been flagged as suspicious about an hour before the shooting because he was moving around and not walking toward the rally venue.
But the observation of him using the rangefinder is what heightened the suspicion.
Crooks was not designated as a threat because rangefinders can have legal and legitimate use but his actions were “certainly highly suspicious,” Commissioner Paris said.
“There was no information that he possessed a weapon,” he said.
Commissioner Paris did not have a precise timeline and based most of his testimony about specific events on briefings he received from state police commanders who worked the rally and officials involved in the ongoing criminal investigations.
The Pennsylvania State Police is running its own criminal investigation in concert with FBI investigation.
The Butler County officer who spotted Crooks with the rangefinder observed him from a second-story window of a building in the AGR International Inc. complex where he was stationed with a fellow officer, according to Commissioner Paris.
After observing Crooks acting suspiciously, the two officers left their post to try to find and question him.
“They were doing everything they could to actively locate him,” Commissioner Paris said.
Although those two county officers never found Crooks, another two officers from the Butler township who joined in the search did find him on the roof of one of the AGR buildings. One officer hoisted the other up so he could see the roof and Crooks pointed a gun at the officer, who then dropped so as not to be shot at from such an unstable position.
Those two officers’ interaction with Crooks occurred at most three minutes before the first shot was fired, Commissioner Paris said. He didn’t have further information about communication with the Secret Service in those final moments.
Regarding the advanced planning, Commissioner Paris said the Secret Service and Butler County police had agreed to “some sort of collaboration” to provide coverage for buildings in the AGR complex but he was not clear on the specifics of those assignments.
Rep. Nick LaLota, New York Republican, said Homeland Security Committee members who visited the rally site on Monday asked why the Butler County officers were stationed inside one of the buildings and not on top of it.
“We were told the explanation was, ‘Well, it was a hot day in Butler. And there was air conditioning inside the building,’” he said.
Rep. Morgan Luttrell, Texas Republican, expressed concern that both Butler County officers left the building unmanned to go look for Crooks, saying one should have stayed behind to maintain eyes on him.
Other members later expressed similar concerns.
Democratic Reps. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, the panel’s ranking member, and Lou Correa of California said they heard concerns from local officials during the committee’s site tour that the venue probably should have never been approved for a rally given the numerous buildings in the vicinity.
Mr. Thompson said Butler County does not have a permitting process for such events, which would have allowed them to raise that concern to the Trump campaign. He said they plan to implement one.
Several members asked questions about communications between state and local police and the Secret Service. Commissioner Paris said those communications were set up on various channels, as is normal for large events with officers assigned to a wide array of responsibilities.
“We did have integrated communications,” he said.
Several lawmakers suggested that their and other after-action reviews should consider a centralized communication channel that would allow high-level information to go out to a broader set of officers more quickly.
Early into the hearing news broke that Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle had resigned her post, which several members applauded as a first step toward accountability for the security failures of July 13.
Rep. Glenn Ivey, Maryland Democrat, said he hopes the process of replacing Ms. Cheatle does not get in the way of uncovering answers.
“We’ve got other events coming up in the future,” he said. “We need to take those lessons quickly.”
Rep. Dan Bishop, North Carolina Republican, told Commissioner Paris his candor during the hearing was “refreshing,” saying it painted a “clear contrast” from Ms. Cheatle’s testimony to the Oversight Committee on Monday.
Homeland Security Chairman Mark Green, Tennessee Republican, had invited Ms. Cheatle to testify at Tuesday’s hearing, along with Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and FBI Director Christopher Wray, but they all declined.
“I usually ask first, that’s my modus operandi,” Mr. Green told The Washington Times when asked why he didn’t subpoena the federal officials. “I would anticipate subpoenas coming soon.”
Those subpoenas could come from his committee or from a bipartisan task force the House is set to vote to impanel later this week.
Mr. Green, who has already subpoenaed Mr. Mayorkas for documents the Homeland Security Department did not willingly turn over by the committee’s Friday deadline, said he still needs to speak with House Speaker Mike Johnson about next steps.
Mr. Johnson said he wanted to form the task force to streamline the disparate committee investigations.
• Lindsey McPherson can be reached at lmcpherson@washingtontimes.com.
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