The U.S. Secret Service (USSS) agents responding to the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump were “stellar in their reaction” to the shooting, a former FBI agent who helped protect a president, several candidates and other top officials told The War Zone. However, the agency failed in its mission to protect Trump because it allowed a man with a rifle to climb atop a building less than 450 feet away with a direct line of sight of the presumptive Republican nominee.
Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, set up on that building while Trump was appearing at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, and fired several shots, officials said. Trump was bloodied, taking a grazing hit to his ear and cheek. A local man was killed and at least two people were seriously injured. Crooks was later killed by the USSS.
Shortly before Crooks fired, rallygoers noticed a man climbing on the roof and warned local police, two law enforcement officials told The Associated Press. The building is owned by American Glass Research, according to The Washington Post.
A local police officer “climbed to the roof and encountered Crooks, who pointed his rifle at the officer,” the AP reported. “The officer retreated down the ladder, and Crooks quickly took a shot toward Trump, and that’s when Secret Service snipers shot him.”
The USSS agents in Trump’s personal protection detail (PDD) should be lauded “because they threw their bodies on him as human shields until they heard the bad guy was neutralized,” the former agent said. “Secret Service pre-coordination failed. The PPD relies on the local USSS to have their shit in place.”
Trump was whisked away after the firing stopped.
The main question is why the roof was left unprotected to begin with said the former agent, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive details. The agent has no direct knowledge of events but is speaking from past experience protecting a president and other VIPs.
“The biggest question I would ask is why the high points were not manned,” the former agent wondered. “I was on a rooftop with task force agents on the USF campus in 2012 during the Republican primaries. And that was just a primary debate among the Republicans. So why that rooftop was not manned by a team kinda baffles me.”
It is especially puzzling considering how close the rooftop was to where Trump was standing.
“I can’t imagine why they wouldn’t want that rooftop so close to the venue. Even from the perspective of owning it so that could have an observation point.”
The New York Post graphic below provides the scope of the scene.
State or local law enforcement officers would have been the ones most likely to have patrolled the rooftop where Crooks perched himself because it was outside the Secret Service security perimeter for the rally, the former agent told us. However, the onus “without a doubt” lies on the USSS to ensure that the building was covered, the ex-federal agent said.
“That doesn’t mean [USSS] had to man it,” the former agent continued, “but they definitely were responsible for coordinating coverage by state, local, or another federal agency to assist if they didn’t have the manpower in-house.”
“Especially outside the zone if there is a direct line of sight,” the former agent told us. “On initial notification, we examine every potential and I’ve been on more rooftops and highrises that even covered motorcade arrivals and departures near the venue.”
An image of police reaching the body of shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks on the rooftop is seen below.
Securing high-elevation locations outside a security perimeter is true for sitting presidents and candidates alike, the ex-FBI agent said.
“USSS were impressive but must have been stretched thin,” the former agent postulated. “I’ve done those with USSS when [then-President Bill] Clinton visited Seattle” for a World Trade Organization (WTO) event in 1999. “And even during the Republican National Convention in 2012 for [candidates Mitt] Romney and [Paul] Ryan. They always snatch the high rooftops around the venue. And I was with them when they did.”
Coordination is “tough” in these circumstances, said the former agent, who recalled that during Cllnton’s visit to Seattle as the WTO protests unfolded in 1999, agents narrowly averted a friendly fire tragedy.
“Seattle PD and King County Sheriff deputies were in an observation post during WTO in a high-rise adjacent residential building,” the former agent said. “With their tags around their neck. Calling in protester movements to the Joint Operations Center (JOC).”
As they were calling out violent demonstrators’ movement, “USSS kicked in their door with weapons drawn on the two detectives at their assigned location. That was a failure of the counter-assault team and PPD to work with local USSS coordinating intel. The USSS snipers saw two guys with radios looking out a non-opening window and thought they were a threat to Clinton.”
The veteran FBI agent posited that some of the problems Saturday could have been caused by “a higher level resource allocation issue and that the ground agents had to make the best of what they had. I can’t believe there wasn’t even a local or state law enforcement officer at least requested to be on that roof.”
“It’s a bad breach of security,” he concluded.
In a Tweet on Sunday, USSS spokesman Anthony Guglielmi denied any accusation that additional resources requested by Trump’s team were not provided.
“There’s an untrue assertion that a member of the former President’s team requested additional security resources & that those were rebuffed,” stated Guglielmi. “This is absolutely false. In fact, we added protective resources & technology & capabilities as part of the increased campaign travel tempo.”
The War Zone reached out to USSS, the FBI which is now investigating the situation, the Pennsylvania State Police (PASP) who are investigating the murder of bystander Corey Comperatore. and the Butler County Sheriff’s Office (BCSO) for more details. A man answering the phone at the PASP local office deferred questions to USSS and FBI. The FBI deferred us to the USSS, which did not return our message by deadline.
In a short speech from the Roosevelt Room at the White House Sunday afternoon President Joe Biden said Trump “as a former president and nominee of the Republican Party already receives a heightened level of security. And I’ve been consistent in my direction of the Secret Service to provide him with every resource, capability and protective measure necessary to ensure his continued safety.”
Biden also “directed the head of the Secret Service to review all the security measures for the Republican National Convention which is scheduled to start tomorrow” in Milwaukee. In addition, he has “directed an independent review of the national security at yesterday’s rally to assess exactly what happened. And we will share the results of that independent review with the American people as well.”
Biden’s call for an investigation into what happened in Butler follows one by the Justice Department and the House of Representatives.
With several investigations underway, we should know more in the coming days and weeks about what failed and why.
Contact the author: howard@thewarzone.com