Posted on 07/19/2024 9:22:29 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
It keeps getting worse: Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, who attempted to assassinate former President Donald Trump on July 13 in Butler, Pennsylvania, reportedly flew a drone over the rally area shortly before he executed his attack. Crooks scaled a rooftop unmolested, despite scores of attendees watching him army crawl on the roof, which was left unprotected by the Secret Service, as he lined up to take shots at Trump.
The roof was less than 200 yards from the stage. Donald Trump Jr. responded to this update tweeting, "Just to underscore how crazy this all is, I was once prevented flying my own drone off of the beach at Mar-a-Lago by USSS because my father was inside the house" (via WSJ):
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
A 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 the stunning security lapses ahead of Trump’s near assassination.
Thomas Matthew Crooks flew the drone on a programmed flight path earlier in the day on July 13 to scour the Butler Farm Show grounds ahead of Trump’s ill-fated rally, the officials said. The predetermined path, the officials added, suggests Crooks flew the drone more than once as he researched and scoped out the event site.
The 20-year-old would-be assassin fired at least six rounds from the roof of the American Glass Research building roughly 400 feet away from where Trump spoke, killing one spectator, critically injuring two others and leaving Trump with a graze wound to the ear. A Secret Service sniper team shot back, killing Crooks, whose motive remains a mystery.
Multiple investigations are under way into how a gunman was able to climb onto a rooftop with a clear line of sight to Trump and open fire with an AR-15 rifle. Police had become suspicious of Crooks more than an hour earlier, when officers saw him milling about the edges of the rally with a range finder and a backpack.
FOX NEWS ALERT: ‘Trump gunman flew drone over rally site hours before event,’ reports WSJ.
“Unbelievable. There are growing questions for the Secret Service Director - this is getting worse by the day,” says @IngrahamAngle with reaction from @MarshaBlackburn. pic.twitter.com/0YjLudtOJn— TV News Now (@TVNewsNow) July 20, 2024
Why the Secret Service left the rooftop unprotected remains the predominant issue, especially since it was flagged as a security vulnerability. There were snipers in the adjacent building at the time of the attack, with another Secret Service sniper team having their sights on Crooks two minutes before he fired the first shot. Yet, even before the rally, the Secret Service was informed that there was a credible threat against Trump’s life 10 minutes before he took the stage but allowed him to proceed anyway.
Trump was the target of an Iranian assassination plot, so he was given increased security, and this shooting still occurred. Trump missed a fatal headshot by millimeters. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) revealed today that most of Trump’s security detail weren’t even Secret Service agents. There is a mountain of questions that need answers. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle should be prepared to be grilled when he testified before the House Oversight Committee on Monday.
Authorities spotted crooks over an hour before he scaled the roof, being caught scouting the location with a rangefinder. It's a security failure worthy of Cheatle's resignation, but she has the protection of Jill Biden, who reportedly pushed for her to get the job.
Just to underscore how crazy this all is, I was once prevented flying MY OWN drone off of the beach at Mar-a-Lago by USSS because my father was inside the house…
Now we have one literally scouting his speech!!! 🤬 https://t.co/M3BAENqT4f— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) July 20, 2024
UPDATE: What a mess via Bill Melugin:
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.
Per…— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) July 19, 2024
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.
Per source, Secret Service did not request any tactical support from HSI (Homeland Security Investigations) beforehand, including the HSI elite Special Response team. HSI agents were assigned to “post standing” security duties at the street entrance and the media area, and were not responsible for the close proximity around Trump, or the buildings on the exterior of the area where the shooter was.
The entire operational security plan was created and carried out by Secret Service, which told HSI and local law enforcement where they needed bodies, and was responsible for the advance planning.
A 20 year old had a drone and the secret service, with a budget of $3.6 billion, did not. https://t.co/RB3O2lXhbl— Rosie Memos (@almostjingo) July 19, 2024
Agreed. No way security was this incompetent. Just not feasible.
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The game is to hide damaging info because people make up their mind in the first 72 hours and then will not be moved off that understanding.
It’s no coincidence they hid the fact the Metal Detectors alarmed on him at 3:00pm, and they knew he was on the roof for 20 minutes, and now he used a drone to analyze the venue.
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The Drone wouldn’t fit in the shredder.
Interesting story
The Second Shooter
Authored by Matt Riley, Submitted by GoldFix
A working theory of the attempted assassination of President Trump by Matt Riley
Bottom Line Up Front: There was likely at least one additional shooter to the one being discussed in the media right now. In true JFK assassination form, there was a primary shooter, and a secondary, more highly skilled shooter.
The Patsy
There are a ton of unanswered questions about who would be DJT assassin, Thomas Matthew Crooks, really is. Here are three relevant working assumptions compiled from the reporting that is out there.
A social awkward relative loner
Not a great shot
A 20yo with no known social media presence
So, from this point forward in the theory we will refer to Crooks as “The Patsy.”
The Heavy
Needless to say, in a multiple shooter scenario, the primary shooter responsible for actually taking out the target would be highly skilled. Nearly any random Joe can be a tack driver from a bench rest at 250 yards with a quality rifle, but the quality and skills found at the highest levels of military and covert operations is hard for most people to fathom. Being precisely accurate is not even the half of it. Timing shots to align with elements out of the shooters control, while also maintaining situational awareness of a near infinite amount of variables is the hard part.
For a example; let us recall the level of technical execution required to save Captain Richard Phillips in 2009. A pair of Tier 1 military snipers timed near simultaneous shots to save him. The first shooter fired to break a window, which initiated a second shooter to make a head shot on a Somali pirate holding Philips hostage. Oh, and both the shooters, and the target where on separate moving boats in the Indian Ocean. It was a relatively short range shot, but we are highlighting the factors of taking a hard shot beyond simple marksmanship.
While we do not yet have direct evidence of a second shooter, there is mounting evidence to show The Patsy did not take the accurate shot that clipped President Trumps right ear. For the sake of our working theory, this second highly professional and accurate shooter will be called “The Heavy”.
The Setting
The area immediately surrounding the Butler Pennsylvania rally location is relatively flat. So if The Heavy was going to fire from the same approximate angle as The Patsy, then they would likely need to be located in the same AGR International building complex. The lapse in counter sniper security around AGR is indisputable. If The Patsy can loiter around the site for 30 minutes and clumsily make his way to the ridge cap of the closest roof to President Trump outside the Secret Service perimeter, then its safe to assume The Heavy could gain an elevated position at a greater distance without being detected. The AGR complex is constituted by several buildings with varying roof types, but the two roofs I want to highlight are both low slope metal roofs of about a 1-12 rise/run profile. Sorry Kimberly Cheatle, that is about as flat as a roof gets.
A bird’s eye view of a building
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The Heavy would need to be as close as possible to the same shooting angle as The Patsy (Co-angle), and preferable have direct visibility of The Patsy to time the shots. In this scenario, The Patsy wouldn’t even need to be aware of The Heavy’s existence. We can see on Google Earth that there is an ideal location within the AGR complex. The location labeled as The Heavy in the attached photos is; slightly higher elevated compared to The Patsys shooting position, on the exact same angle relative to President Trumps position, and only about 100 yards further away.
A parking lot with cars and a building
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The building with blue AGR sign in the photo above has some unique features. From the angle show above it appears to be a flat roof, but it is actually 1-12 pitched as shown in the photo below. It also has cosmetic skirting on two sides. So if The Heavy set up on the ridge cap of the building, they would be visibly shielded from the road. Egress would be slightly problematic because there does not appear to be an internal roof access for concealment. But, you wouldn’t have to be Jason Bourne to jump down to the Westward adjoining roof, then to the ground. And everyone might be slightly distracted by other events in the area.
A building with a flag in front of it
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Below is a better perspective to understand the angles involved.
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Just check out how much great concealment a shooter would have from The Heavy’s location.
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People who want to remain safe from difficult thoughts or critical thinking will no doubt start shrieking “CONSPIRACY THEORY!” And they will surely have no idea how thick the irony is, that the very term “conspiracy theory” was concocted by the security state to discredit the now indisputable reality that there was more than one shooter involved in a previous Presidential assassination.
How would this theory be proven out? This of course assumes there was a legitimate investigation conducted by a competent authority with no doors closed to them. (Because the FBI and DHS will bury any real evidence under Jimmy Hoffa’s body, right next to the identity of the J6 pipe bomber) It will be very difficult and will likely come down to angle analysis and audio analysis to determine differences in the time distance of arrival of various sounds.
While it is plausible that The Patsy could pull this off solo, it is remarkable unlikely. The round that clipped President Trumps ear was incredibly accurate. If not for a remarkably timed turn of the head, it would have been perfect. But the one thing even the best sniper can’t control for is the targets movement during the 3/10th of a second bullet time of flight. Remember, if The Heavy was timing their shot with the decision of the unwitting Patsy, then they would not get to select the moment to engage. Otherwise, a shooter would prefer to wait until President Trump is finished engaging with and pointing at the visual graphic he was using. Fortunately for America, The Patsy got spooked by a local PD sticking his head up over the top of a ladder and his hand was forced on the timing.
The Water Tower
There is information and potential witnesses citing the water tower as the location of a second shooter. That may end up being the case, but here are four reasons why I don’t think it’s true.
1. The giant projector screen President Trump was using obstructs the water towers view of the rally stage where he was located. This may have been intentional on the Secret Services part, but that’s a stretch give their other failures.
2. It’s incredibly difficult, if not impossible to make a hasty, unnoticed egress from the water tower. Of all the things to witness, you would think a person climbing down a tower ladder, or someone going full Mission Impossible and repelling down would get noticed.
3. Some of the audible witnesses clearly seem to have heard something coming from a different location than The Pasty. If the witnesses were located to the West of the AGR complex, then the roof where we theorize The Heavy would fire from could be in the same direction as the water tower. Any “eyewitness” videos that state something to the effect “they said there was a shooter in the tower” should be immediately dismissed. In a sniper environment, eyes will naturally gravitate to the highest object with suspicion, and the rumor mill will run wild. If they didn’t directly see a shooter, or a puff of smoke from the water tower with their own eyes, then they are not an eyewitness.
4. If an accurate shot were to come from the water tower and actually kill President Trump, it would generate evidence of a second shooter due to the elevation and angle difference from The Patsy. Why create problems for a cover-up if you don’t have to?
A group of people sitting in a crowd
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Matt Riley
About:
The author of the piece Matt Riley, has 10 plus years military intelligence experience. From our own interactions governing his follow up research and step by step observations on the mBridge platform (confirming the path laid out in GoldFix many times over the past 2 years), we feel his analytical approach is serious and raises legitimate questions hopefully that will be explored for true clarity of what happened and continues to go on since the attempt on a presumptive President’s life.
It’s pretty simple... The leadership just didn’t care much for Trump’s security. Fairly plain isn’t it?
More likely an untraceable MK Ultra groomed patsy. As well as the one or two other shooters involved.
Good thing they weren’t pros. Given the poor security (seemingly intentional) it is purely an act of Providence that President Trump is still alive.
Yep- one guy says the first shot came from inside the building because of the trajectory - it hit a man on the other side of Trump who was just about on the top step of the bleachers. This gentleman breaks it down and there might have even been a third gunman.
https://x.com/catturd2/status/1814409078392631385
Who was it who bought that building about four months ago??? 🤔
Maybe CONgress will do something this week, if not yes!
Sounds like he’s Doc Ock with multiple arms.
How else can he carry a ladder, rifle and fly a drone at the same time and them leap to the top of a building.
Or he had someone else flying the drone, the rifle was stashed and someone let him go up on the roof.
Which one sounds likely?
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https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/07/company-building-where-trump-shooter-sniped-was-sold/
There was another article in a Defense Contractor trade publication
>> There are growing questions for the Secret Service Director
Well and good, she’s a DEI idiot, grill her... but GET HER BOSS, THAT VERMIN AMERICA HATING SON OF A B____ MAYORKAS BACK IN FRONT OF CONGRESS! AND BEAT THAT SOB BLOODY!
That dogstool ESL Mayorkas has presided over too damn much destruction of my beloved America. He is begging to be in the CROSSHAIRS of patriotic America!
>> Which one sounds likely?
B) !!!
This is a deep state operation. Murderous power mad bastards.
Yep and they screwed the pooch on this one.
People will keep digging and video and other information will keep showing up.
Email accounts, not bank accounts.
IIRC, ProtonMail is one example.
“Lies are fragile. Truth is durable.”
I wish I could remember where I read that so I could give the author the credit they are due.
Maybe they did.
Wake me up when hard, proven FACTS are known. These clowns can’t even get the distance from the shooter to the target accurate.
They aren’t sure if the analysis reveals two or three rifles. Their best guess is two shooters followed by the Counter Sniper shot.
There is fascinating acoustic analysis that shows shot echoes off a large flat wall for the first three shots, but no similar echoes for the next group of shots. He even postulates the lack of echo on the second group of shots was because the shooter was indoors.
He also examines the elevation of the shooter, the elevation of President Trump’s head, and the elevation of the wounded audience member. He concludes at least one bullet had to be fired with an upward slope, not downward from the building roof.
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