We’re at a point where it wouldn’t shock me if Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle, who is supposed to testify before House Oversight on Monday, catches a brutal case of ‘political’ COVID and can’t make the hearing. The fallout from the assassination attempt on Donald Trump on July 13 in Butler, Pennsylvania, has exposed serial incompetence to a degree where some have asked how Cheatle still has a job. That can be explained by her friendship with Jill Biden, who reportedly pushed for Cheatle to get the United States Secret Service gig.
The latest development shows a gross allocation of resources regarding local law enforcement. Plenty were deployed, though not stationed at the most critical points. This allowed shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, to move unmolested outside the perimeter. The only police officers who got close to him were the ones who left their designated area, according to Jonathan Martin of the New York Times. He added their initial assignment was traffic duty (via NYT):
My god ….
— Jonathan Martin (@jmart) July 20, 2024
With law enforcement focused elsewhere, a would-be assassin roamed freely outside the perimeter. The only officers who got close to him were ones who left their designated posts to do so.
Their job had been to direct traffic
A key question after an assassination attempt on former President Donald J. Trump a week ago is why the Secret Service excluded from its secured zone a nearby warehouse the gunman used for his assault.
But another possible flaw in the Secret Service’s plans for the campaign rally at the farm show grounds in Butler, Pa., is emerging. The protection agency expected the sizable contingent of officers from local law enforcement agencies to contain any threats outside of the secured zone but assigned almost all those officers to work inside it, according to numerous interviews with local law enforcement and municipal officials.
None of the law enforcement agencies that assisted the Secret Service that day — the Pennsylvania State Police, the Butler Township Police Department, the Butler County Sheriff, Pittsburgh Bureau of Police or the multicounty tactical teams — say they were given responsibility for watching the zone outside the Secret Service’s security perimeter.
More specifically, the local law enforcement officials say that none of them were assigned to safeguard the complex of warehouses just north of the farm show grounds. The gunman was able to use the roof of the warehouse closest to the stage — about 450 feet from the podium — from which to shoot.
[…]
… an overwhelming majority of the dozens of local and state officers called upon to aid the Secret Service were given other duties at or inside the secured perimeter — an area that was protected by a fence, metal detectors and the Secret Service itself.
With law enforcement focused elsewhere, a would-be assassin roamed freely outside the perimeter. The only officers who got close to him were ones who left their designated posts to do so.
Their job had been to direct traffic.
The assigned responsibilities of the local law enforcement officers raise questions as to whether these resources were effectively deployed.
Local law enforcement is often used by the Secret Service to enhance the security apparatus of protected persons—the agency cannot do it alone. Yet, the predominant question right now is why the rooftop where Crooks was perched, less than 200 yards from the stage, was left unguarded despite being flagged as a security vulnerability. Crooks was also spotted before he opened fire with a rangefinder and reportedly flew a drone over the rally area before the attack. The Secret Service did not deploy a drone on the day of the rally.
WSJ, breaking: “The gunman who tried to kill Donald Trump was able to fly a drone and get aerial footage of the western Pennsylvania fairgrounds shortly before the former president was set to speak there, law-enforcement officials briefed on the matter said, further underscoring…
— Josh Kraushaar (@JoshKraushaar) July 19, 2024
They also knew 10 minutes before that there was a threat to Trump’s life but allowed him to take the stage anyway. The former president did have increased security due to a credible assassination threat from the Iranians, and this attempt still happened. it was damn-near successful, with a fatal headshot missing the former president by millimeters. Crooks was spotted by onlookers, who desperately tried to warn law enforcement. Secret Service snipers also targeted Crooks for at least two minutes before shots were fired. Whistleblowers are coming forward, adding to this mess, and local law enforcement is now leaking heavily, and they were never given the responsibility to guard buildings.
NEW: Per federal law enforcement source w/ knowledge of the security planning for Trump’s Butler, PA rally, the event was staffed by 22 Secret Service agents, including advance, assault, and sniper teams, 16 HSI agents, and it is believed there was no SS drone in the air.
— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) July 19, 2024
Per…
Cheatle explained that the absence of a team on the rooftop where Crooks was perched was due to security concerns for the physical safety of the agents because the roof was sloped. Whoever signed off on that being made public should be fired—no one believes it because it's facially untrue.
Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-PA) has called on Cheatle to resign following this fiasco.
Big deal: Pennsylvania Dem lawmaker calls on Secret Service chief Cheatle to resign. https://t.co/PnB2wMNwii
— Josh Kraushaar (@JoshKraushaar) July 20, 2024
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