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
Apparently....from what I’ve heard.....they were crypto accounts. If so that’s not a big deal unless there are some unusual payments/deposits in those accounts.
So the real shooter took out the patsy cooke after he made his assasination attempt not he two snipers we see on the roof
It has been reported that they found the drone in his vehicle.
And that he had used it more than once.
And you believe the media on this story?
Don’t forget, he also had a van and a car from 50 miles away. How did he drive two vehicles to the site? Who gave him a ride home to get the second one?
When were those vehicles staged there, which one was used to transport the ladder, drone, AR, rangefinder?
The ladder was 5’, it would have fit in the Hyundai.
From vid taken near Crooks, the 2nd group of shots, after the 1st 3 shots, is much louder, more rapid, and sound different.
The 1st shot of the 1st group of 3 is the bullet that clipped President Trump, so a good guess is that Crooks only got off 3 shots.
There is also this:
But still not a word about where his counselor parents worked, or information about where they worked online.
A 1,000 times yes ! These folks need some scrutiny. I’d bet something ain’t kosher there.
Just think if it had been Joe that had been shot at. The press would have shoved a spot light up the shooter’s family backside to examine them.
The 2nd group of shots, in the vid from near Crooks, were much louder, more rapid, and sound different.
The havoc wreaked on stage seems like “a lot” for only 3 shots, but, “could” happen with ricochets, and the bullet that clipped Trump almost certainly would go on to hit someone else.
8 or 9 shots with 5-6 being from a higher power rifle than the 1st 3, otoh, would almost certainly do more “damage’, if aimed at the stage area.
Surely it should be known by now if all the bullets that hit people in the stage area were the same type / caliber.
Or why they’d let their adult son take their rifle to a range if they would then be concerned enough to call the police when he didn’t return with it a couple of hours later?
Supposedly that rapid sound was the echo off the metal roof. The first shots, this theory goes, would have been from the windows in the building under that roof.
And which vehicle now? His reported Hyundai Sonata—or the van taken from the side street that night?
I tend to agree, tho’ it’s possible one of them fired several seconds after the 2nd group of shots. None of the vids I know of stay on those guys that long. From the vantage of near Crooks’ position, the last 2 shots sound distant.
Exactly. There are probably elements to this that are true, but which ones are those?
There was also the question as to why the SS wasn’t using their usual drone surveillance.
Who knows what’s right, but there is a claim that a close, on-ground official shot at Crooks and missed, then after that the counter-sniper took Crooks out with one shot.
He didn’t fly the drop on rally day. He flew it days earlier. Not surprising that an engineering student and computer nerd could have flown it. I question whether he could have afforded it
Very unlikely. If there was a second shooter -- a highly skilled "heavy" as described in the article -- then Trump would not be here today. After Crook's shot sliced Trump's ear, Trump was fully exposed and unprotected on stage for three seconds before he was tackled by SS agents -- plenty of time for a highly skilled second shooter to make the kill shot. Even as SS was ushering Trump off stage, his head was mostly exposed, particularly when he stopped to pump his fist and yell "fight, fight, fight." A second, highly skilled shooter would have killed him.
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