Posted on 07/16/2024 11:30:06 AM PDT by Red Badger
The US Secret Service did not put agents on the rooftop where an assassin shot at Donald Trump for health and safety reasons, the head of the agency has said.
Kimberly Cheatle, the Secret Service director, said the “sloped roof” where Thomas Matthew Crooks was positioned on Saturday could have posed a risk to agents.
“That building in particular has a sloped roof at its highest point. And so, you know, there’s a safety factor that would be considered there that we wouldn’t want to put somebody up on a sloped roof,” she told ABC News on Tuesday.
“And so, you know, the decision was made to secure the building, from inside.”
Joe Biden, the US president, has ordered a review into how Crooks was able to gain access to a point with a direct line of sight to Trump as he spoke at a rally in Pennsylvania.
A bullet fired at Trump grazed his ear, missing his head by inches.
Ms Cheatle, who is facing calls to resign, admitted that Crooks had been spotted by the agency before he opened fire, but had not been stopped.
The rooftop was outside of the secure zone set up for Trump’s rally, around 150 metres from the stage where he spoke.
“The shooter was actually identified as a potential person of suspicion,” she said.
“Unfortunately, with the rapid succession of how things unfolded, by the time that individual was eventually located, they were on the rooftop and were able to fire off at the former president.”
It came amid reports that a Secret Service sniper photographed the man who fired several shots at Donald Trump and watched him using a range-finder before the shooting.
Crooks, 20, was spotted looking up at the roof from where he would eventually fire at the stage during the former president’s speech.
The sniper snapped a picture of the would-be assassin as he sat down near the building looking at his mobile telephone and using a range-finder, CBS News reported.
Crooks was later observed returning to the area for a third time, this time with a rucksack, when the sniper radioed in the information.
A report by Fox News, citing an anonymous law enforcement source, said local officers had also spotted a suspicious man carrying a range-finder “in or just outside” the Butler Farm Show grounds before Trump took to the stage to deliver a campaign speech last Saturday.
The officer reported the sighting to the state police, with a discussion had over whether the man was simply carrying binoculars to get a better vantage point of the rally.
At this point both Fox and CBS reported that state police officers were rushing to the scene.
But within minutes the assassin, later identified as Crooks by the FBI, had already opened fire, injuring Trump, killing a spectator and wounding two others.
By the time officers had arrived, Secret Service snipers had already shot and killed Crooks, later discovering a radio transmitter in his pocket and explosives in his car parked nearby.
Crooks was said to have been watched by Secret Service agents and local law enforcement officers for about 30 minutes before his failed assassination attempt.
The reports only add to the pressure being heaped on the Secret Service for the security lapses that allowed an attempt on the life of a former president.
Unconfirmed footage circulated on social media appeared to show Secret Service snipers performing overwatch at the venue moving to face in the direction of the assassin a minute before he opened fire.
The US Congress has also launched an investigation into what it described as “inexcusable security breaches” at the Trump rally.
In the prior 48 hours before Crooks opened fire on Trump, reports have detailed how he travelled to a shooting range, a gun store and a hardware store.
On the Friday before the attack, he went to a shooting range where he was a member to practice firing, a law enforcement official told CNN.
The next day, he purchased 50 rounds of ammunition from a nearby gun store and a ladder from a Home Depot.
It isn’t clear whether both the ammunition and ladder were used in the attack. Investigators believe he used an air conditioner to clamber onto the roof from where he took the shots.
The post ‘Sloping roof’ used by assassin was too dangerous for our agents, says Secret Service chief appeared first on The Telegraph.
So the Secret Service Chief has no one to on her staff to tell her how stupid that sounds .
More B.S. excuses. Roofers regularly use a body harness and roof attachment points to secure themselves safely via ropes to a steep sloping roof. I guess those in the Secret Service are admitting that they are too dumb to know those kinds of things.
This is gaslighting at its worst. The Head of the Secret Service should not allow such obviously false statements to be made.
BTTT!!!
In the General/Chat forum, on a thread titled Q ~ Trust Trump's Plan ~ 07/14/2024 Vol.496, Q Day 2452, ransomnote wrote: Here are the specifications for the ADA recommendations for maximum rise of a wheel chair ramp.(People who don't use a wheel chair can still walk up these ramps without problem.)
ransomnote: Now compare that angle to the roof in the image Steven W. posted:
Agent Fatty Patty
Let’s face it folks… They try to do a John F. Kennedy on President Trump ….PERIOD!! The way the DC swamp covered up the true shooter in Dallas who took out President Kennedy they’re gonna use the saying tactic to cover up this assassination attempt. The only problem they have is that, PTL, there’s too many many eyewitnesses and thousands of videos out there. It is going to be hard for them to sweep this one under the rug. But I don’t trust the FBI or whatever institution coming out of DC is going to investigate. They’re gonna come out with there was no motive blah blah he acted alone blah blah blah and then slam… case closed. I hope Trump gets smart and hires his own investigation team or he’s screwed. Because once they sweep it under the rug they’re gonna try again but this time in an area where no video no people are around the situation They’re gonna bring down his plane. That’s all they have left…their jobs are on the line and the DC swamp knows it. He’s going to go back to the swamp and he’ll be carrying an awful monstrous stick. Time to 🧼 🧹 🧽 house.
“Holster Puzzle”!
Hahahaha!
I bet these guys used Crook’s ladder to get up there because they forgot to bring a ladder and had to stay inside the building
Well that one surely broke the BS meter.
Exactly - the roof that the two SS snipers were on was significantly steeper... Her answer was sheer BS, and only adds suspicion to the whole thing.
Kimberly Cheatle forgot to turn her brain on before she started speaking
I guess she was thinking the Cheetos might roll off the roof................
Fire that stupid girl-boss, now!
From now on, I’m calling her “Kimberly Cheat-oes”...........
The fact she did not know enough to refuse to repeat the preposterous excuse disqualifies her from managing the agency. She doesn't have the background or common sense to supervise an armed force.
There may very well be a plausible reason agents stayed off the roof; one that can not be admitted.
It was a hot day and the SS team decided to provide “protection” from inside the air conditioned building rather than baking in the sun on a tin roof.
The team simply decided to take an unannounced risk since nothing had ever happened at a Trump rally before. They figured they would get away with it, but this time they didn't.
Here it is, actually small.
In the Bloggers & Personal forum, on a thread titled ‘Sloping roof’ used by assassin was too dangerous for our agents, says Secret Service chief, Red Badger wrote:
In the General/Chat forum, on a thread titled Q ~ Trust Trump's Plan ~ 07/14/2024 Vol.496, Q Day 2452, Steven W. wrote:
My home’s roof is steeper than that and I just painted it (it’s metal) a couple months ago. Had no problem with the slant...............
This is the second article today I thought for sure was from the Babylon Bee. The other one being the call where Biden asked Trump “What made you turn your head?”
Her apointment to the director job was pushed by Dr Jill Biden. DEI implications. Say no more
If a rooster laid an egg on the highest point of that sloped roof………I don’t think it would roll off.
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