A former SEAL sniper claims that Trump was "exceedingly exposed" during his visit to the PA shooting range.
Thomas Crooks' former President Trump shooting was identified by Arizona Republican Rep Eli Crane with several security flaws from the rooftop.
On Monday, Republican Rep. Eli Crane of Arizona, along with a bipartisan group of lawmakers, visited Butler, Pennsylvania, and raised concerns about the attempted assassination of former President Trump.
A former Navy SEAL sniper who was on the rooftop during the July 13 rally of Donald Trump was filmed by Crane. This sniper, Thomas Crooks, shot at Trump with a rifle, injuring the Republican candidate's ear and killing firefighter Corey Comperatore, while also injuring two other bystanders.
Crane, who was positioned on the building where the alleged sniper fired, refuted U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle's assertion that the steep roof made it impossible for her agency to place personnel on the building during the rally.
A 20-year-old criminal climbed onto a rooftop 150 yards away from where Trump spoke and took a sniper's position with a direct line of sight to the former president. He was killed by Secret Service countersnipers, but not before he took several shots at Trump. The Secret Service is under heavy scrutiny for the glaring security failure that allowed the criminal to take position on that roof.
Rep. Carlos Gimenez, R-Fla., easily climbed onto the roof during a tour of the location, and Crane, a former Navy SEAL sniper, pointed out a nearby water tower as a potential security risk.
"If Secret Service or sniper teams had been present, this guy wouldn't have survived five feet up the roof," Crane stated.
Crane claimed that Secret Service agents were stationed on the second floor of the adjacent building with windows.
"It's puzzling why they couldn't promptly handle the situation," Crane remarked.
Crane gestured toward the rally site and indicated where Trump's stage was positioned for his address.
"We anticipate conducting an investigation and resolving the issues in Butler to prevent them from happening again," he stated.
After Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisc., released his official 13-page preliminary findings of his office's investigation into the assassination attempt, the representative made statements.
On July 13, the Secret Service did not attend a security briefing given to local SWAT and sniper teams. Communications were siloed, and they were not in frequent radio contact directly with the Secret Service. Local law enforcement notified command about Crooks before the shooting and received confirmation that the Secret Service was aware of the notification. After the shooting, the Secret Service was seen on the roof of the American Glass Research building with local law enforcement following them.
The investigation discovered that the ATF received photos of the shooter for facial recognition and that local law enforcement stated that the Secret Service initially did not intend to deploy snipers at the rally.
This report was contributed to by Charles Creitz, Sarah Rumpf-Whitten, and Landon Mion of Planet Chronicle Digital.
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