At a Trump rally in Pennsylvania, another individual decided to play around where he shouldn’t have, and he is now facing charges over this stunt. Blessedly, it wasn’t an assassination attempt. There was no firearm involved, but one man decided to rush into the press area before being subdued by authorities.
It happened in Johnstown over the weekend. Yet, the security situation around the former president remains a pressing issue since the July 13 assassination attempt by Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, in Butler, Pennsylvania. We do not yet know this latest individual's identity or political leanings. He will be facing multiple charges after infiltrating the press area and climbing near the risers where television cameras were positioned (via Associated Press):
Police said Saturday that a man will face misdemeanor charges after he stormed into the press area at Donald Trump’s rally in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, before being surrounded by authorities and eventually subdued with a Taser as the former president spoke at the campaign stop.
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The man made it over a barrier ringing the media area and began climbing the back side of a riser where television reporters and cameras were stationed, according to a video of the incident posted to social media by a reporter for CBS News. People near him tried to pull him off the riser and were quickly joined by police officers and sheriff’s deputies.
The crowd cheered as a pack of police led the man away, prompting Trump to say, “Is there anywhere that’s more fun to be than a Trump rally?”
Johnstown’s police chief, Richard M. Pritchard, confirmed to The Associated Press on Saturday that the man was arrested, released and will be formally charged next week. Pritchard said the man, whose identity will be disclosed when charges are filed, will face misdemeanors in municipal court for alleged disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and disrupting a public assembly.
Pritchard, who was not directly involved in the arrest, declined to speculate on the man’s motives.
The safety of Mr. Trump is more of an issue since the Secret Service has decided to adopt a bunker mentality on the abject security failures that led to Mr. Crooks gaining access to a rooftop less than 200 yards from the stage in Butler. The agency has stonewalled the investigation, leaving numerous questions left to twist in the wind of speculation. What we do know is that Crooks was able to gain aerial surveillance of the rally site before the Secret Service and was spotted by local SWAT teams who provided pictures and a description.
The Secret Service did not have access to the radio system, which complicated a response to this threat. The agency also knew there was a severe threat to Mr. Trump at this rally, though it permitted him to walk onto the stage. The rooftop left unguarded remains the biggest mystery, a glaring security lapse that has sparked numerous conspiracy theories. The Secret Service also did itself no favors with its weak explanation for the lack of snipers at that location, claiming the sloped rooftop posed a physical danger to the agents. That narrative got shredded within seconds. Last, the agency was forced to admit it had denied additional resources to Trump’s detail.
This Johnstown incident was minor. We still don’t know anything substantive about how Butler became such a fiasco. Everyone at the Secret Service has gone to ground.
