Posted on 09/05/2024 5:41:17 AM PDT by MtnClimber
Most of the agents on former President Trump’s protective detail during his Butler, Pennsylvania, rally on July 13 were Homeland Security personnel who had little protective training, according to Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.).
Hawley told Fox News’ Jesse Watters Tuesday night that he had been informed by a whistleblower that the day Trump was almost assassinated, he was mostly guarded by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents who had only received a short and glitchy online training session before the rally.
From a rooftop only 450 feet away, 20-year-old Thomas Crooks was able to fire eight rounds, hitting Trump in the ear, critically injuring two rallygoers, and tragically killing retired fire chief Corey Comperatore.
“A two-hour, online webinar. And I’m told that half the time, the sounds to the webinar didn’t even work,” Hawley said on “Jesse Watters Primetime.”
“So think about this: The former president of the US … is sent out on stage, most of the people there are not trained, they’re not qualified. They only got a webinar training and even that didn’t work,” he added.
“It is absolutely outrageous.”
Hawley has sent a letter to Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe demanding an explanation to these latest revelations.
The senator quoted the whistleblower as saying:
Imagine 1,000 people logging on to Microsoft Teams at the same time after being informed at the last minute that everybody has to login individually. Once it got rolling, the Secret Service instructor couldn’t figure out how to get the audio working on the prerecorded videos. All told, they restarted the videos approximately six times … the content was not helpful.
Hawley said in the letter that the training, according to the whistleblower, was not “substantive” and left the agents “ill-prepared for the protective mission to which they were newly assigned.”
In the days after the assassination attempt, the corporate media reported that the U.S. Intelligence Community had obtained intelligence from a human source about an Iranian plot to assassinate Trump, and that development had allegedly led to the Secret Service increasing security around the former president.
Watters said he found it curious that in the midst of “this big Iranian threat,” the administration’s idea of beefing up security “was not putting more secret service agents and counter snipers” on the ground, but just “a bunch of guys who have never done this before” and received all their training “from a Zoom call.”
Hawley said Homeland Security agents were actually pulled off child exploitation cases and other cases in order to serve on Trump’s protective detail.
“They don’t normally do protective detail work at all,” Hawley explained. “They were pulled off those cases and [were told] you’re going to go guard the former president of the United States.” He noted that even after the training webinar’s technical difficulties, they were sent out onto the field to protect Trump.
“Jesse, this is a nightmare,” the Missouri Senator said. “The only reason we know this stuff is because of whistleblowers!”
Watters also pointed out that authorities initially said that a Secret Service agent fired the first shot at Crooks, but since then, it’s come out that the first shot was fired by “a local.”
In a preliminary investigative report released last month, Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.) revealed that an Emergency Service Unit (ESU) SWAT operator had spotted Crooks on the American Glass Research (AGR) building’s rooftop, and “immediately left his assigned post and ran towards the threat, running to a clear shot position directly into the line of fire.”
The SWAT operator fired his shot (#9) from about 100 yards away, “hit[ting] Crooks’ rifle stock and frag[ging] his face/neck/right shoulder area from the stock breaking up,” Higgins reported. “He stopped Crooks and importantly, I believe the shot damaged the buffer tube on Crooks’ AR.”
Hawley called out Rowe for sharing inaccurate information about what happened when he testified before the Senate on July 31.
“All I can say is, that is NOT what the director told Congress,” the senator said. “I was sitting right there in the Senate when he testified that it was a Secret Service counter sniper who neutralized the threat—that is, took out Crooks. He said nothing about another sniper—a local—nothing at all!”
Hawley said the misinformation was part of “a pattern” and called on the Secret Service and FBI to be more transparent and stop “hoarding information” about the case.
“Why aren’t these guys out there, the Secret Service and FBI, doing regular briefings, answering questions, giving us answers?” he demanded. “They aren’t doing any of that. They’re hoarding the information, they’re keeping it from the public, and this has been going on for too long. People have got to get fired for this.”
In his letter to Rowe, Hawley demanded to know how many HSI agents were assigned to the Butler rally, how many of the agents had received their training via the webinar, whether they were reassigned from child exploitation cases, and whether training has been revamped since July 13. The also senator requested a copy of the webinar recording and other training materials.
Incompetence or plan?
Plausible deniability.
Put the DEI DHS on duty and let things happen.
It was definitely planned, as CNN was live broadcasting their only Trump Rally Live EVER.
Yes. (Probably)
They read “Bodyguarding For Dummies” beforehand.
Incompetence or plan?
______________
Definitely planned incompetence. Looks like the plan.
Had 5 minutes to remove Trump from stage after people spotted man with gun. No credible answers why Trump was not removed.
Still crickets.
This was done purposely to make president Trump an easy target. Thank God crook was such a loser. The feds set him up to take the perfect shot but he missed it. Whoever put these people on Trump’s detail is one of the conspirators in this crime.
Sounds like the Secret Service isn’t that special. You could drive by a Lowe’s...pick up six Mexicans...give them the webinar course, give them $49 suits, and they could do the same job as the $80k a year agent.
Probably better. There wouldn’t be a corpulent incompetent cowardly using President Trump as her human shield when bullets started flying.
Likely the government would have been successful in murdering President Trump if they had put TSA employees in as security here that day.
‘I Remember the Secret Service Being Tougher’ Scene | Red
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKWKOvFFvFg
Too many coincidences aligning for this not to be a plan, albeit a plan with incompetence as its organizing principle & a sprinkling of “plausible deniability” for good measure.
Yeah, I'm sure he'll get right back to him.
A webinar????? That’s what they have teachers watch, so they can say it’s continuing education. It was always an utter waste of time. I would put a sticker on my camera & read.
Shocked by this.
Plan
That said, the assassination attempt was not done by Crooks alone. Period. No way for him to plan this without help.
Too many doors left open, too many lies told over and over.
Clean the Stables in DC !
How? Put Trump in the Whitehouse and let him execute the cleaning process with Congress's support.
First start with the outright crimes, then go after idiots in a job they can't handle, then go after the barely there.
In the process, simplify the entire Executive Branch. Weed out the Liars. Eliminate the agencies that produce nothing of value.
#Restore_the_Constitution !
#DownSize_DC !
#FreedomWorks , DC does NOT !
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.