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.
Amazing gravitas.
He's safe. The SS works for Dr Jill. On second thought.......
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So secret service agents are not required to be as physically capable as those who installed the roof in the first place. I lived in Eugene Oregon for over 40 years and met so many people who would automatically assign credibility to that statement just because it was made by a Biden appointee.
So, you sweep the “steep roof” with a visual inspection by a person or drone and then secure it from the ground on all four sides and inside, if there’s a roof access hatch, with 4-5 cleared “rent a cops” or LE personnel. It isn’t rocket science…
Really? They were all in on it.
This comment from her is beyond ridiculous. Too sloped for safety-— maybe from pony tailed fat chicks who think they’re in an all female western. What utter bilge!
Isn't the entire roof sloped - all the way to the eve?
It looks like someone that doesn't understand water runs downhill told that woman to say that.
Pitiful. And she is supervising an elite armed force.
My driveway has less of a slope than that.
More like a Runt with a C. She should be ran out of town on a rail, with townspeople chasing her to the La Brea tarpits.
Won’t anyone say the truth? A woman in charge of the SS is as idiotic as a woman Fire Chief. Sure, if it is known to be a political stunt for an appt, but SHE DIDN’T EARN IT, and the men under her know it.
Let me explain my reasoning. A woman can boss around the firemen, and the SS agents just fine. The problem is, MEN make the best of both professions. A capable man should have the way open and the ability to move up the “ladder of success”. Capable men are not just drones, they DESERVE to be something other than a grunt. All but a few Women can handle the heavy firehoses, neither can older men. They can though become Captains and Lieutenants, and Commanders, unless women fill those posts to fill out positions for DEI purposes.
Becoming a SS agent, Firefighter, or Police should not be a dead end job for men. If a woman can compete against a man in drills and exercises THAT ARE NOT DUMBED DOWN, she can be welcomed. But like female Navy Seals, they are the few and the far between, or nonexistent.
Are there any women on Biden’s Secret Service detail? Asking for a friend.
That roof appears to be about a 2/12 pitch.
I have a Salt Box style house with a 7/12 pitch on the front and a 4/12 pitch on the back. The back is very easy to walk on. Even the 7/12 is not bad with the right work boots.
This is classic gas lighting. Making up some stupid excuse to cover your ignorance and ineptitude. I can not believe that this lady was the CEO of Pepsi Cola. A major corporation. She seems to be a classic example of the Peter Principle.
I meant my driveway has more slope than that.
If Traitor Joe were ANY kind of leader, he would summarily fire her, but we all know he isn't. Besides, Joe and his underlings set it up to enable any potential assassin.
so... Basically OSHA regulations prohibited it?!
One would think that the Secret Service knows a whole heck of a lot about roofs, in fact would almost think of them as its domain.
Well, maybe there was a creature on the wing.
A roof so steep that a dead assassin didn’t roll off of it. What a dangerous roof.
“””””I meant my driveway has more slope than that.”””””
There have been weekends when I have seen floors with more slope than that.
Public affairs/PR guy for the SS is a dude named Gugliemi— used to work for Pfizer. Tells us something, depending on his timeline.
Pepsi/Cheetos and Pfizer— covidvax. what a powerhouse.
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