The Man Who Police Gave Photos of Trump’s Would-Be Assassin to Was Not Secret Service

Matt Vespa | July 22, 2024 7:00 AM

 

United States Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle is expected to be grilled during her testimony before the House Oversight Committee. I have no idea what to expect, and it wouldn’t shock me if Cheatle catches ‘COVID’ or flat-out doesn’t show up. There is nothing that can be done to make up what happened on July 13, when former President Donald Trump was nearly assassinated by Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, who was perched on an unprotected rooftop less than 200 yards from the rally stage. Trump turning his head saved him from a fatal headshot. The bullet missed by millimeters, instead grazing his right ear.

When the shooter was neutralized, police took photos of the body as evidence, later being given to a man in a grey suit. That man was not a Secret Service agent, highlighting the shambolic security apparatus at this event:

 

That’s not the worst of it.

In the aftermath, we’ve heard nothing from the Secret Service, who, like Biden, have scurried into the bunker-like scared wombats. The shooter was seen with a rangefinder before opening fire and reportedly flew a drone over the rally area. The Secret Service did not deploy a drone. The reason offered for not having a sniper team on that roof was due to a physical danger: the sloped roof. It’s a talking point that should have led to the entire USSS communications team firing for peddling deliberate misinformation—no one believed that lie. Cheatle should have been fired or resigned days ago, but she’s gal pals with Jill Biden.

Secret Service snipers had their sights on Crooks for two minutes before he opened fire, the agency itself knew there was a threat to Trump 10 minutes before he took the stage but allowed him to proceed; Trump says they never told him of the threat. The agency denied additional resources to protect the former president. The security lapses embody the incompetence and disarray of the Biden administration in anything they do. It almost got Trump killed. It did get Corey Comperatore, a firefighter, killed, being struck by gunfire as he tried to shield his family. Two others were injured as well.

The allocation of local law enforcement was also suspect, with local law enforcement now leaking that the agency never instructed them to safeguard buildings. The local cops who did encounter Crooks only did so after leaving their designated posts, which was traffic duty. Susan Crabtree of RealClearPolitics has more on the established inexcusable and inept security net that arguably could have plunged this nation into civil war.

 

She posted a series of damning findings over the weekend:

The Secret Service top brass, Cheatle included, hand out bonuses to mid-level managers who cut manpower, resources requests from those Secret Service special agents and officers on the ground in charge of protecting the presidents, vice president, former presidents, etc.

There’s a team of special agents or Uniform Division officers (counter snipers are UD, not agents) doing all the advance work on the ground to figure out how many resources are needed. That team includes the lead advance agent, the site agent, the counter sniper team conducting the initial survey of the rally or event venue.

Then those agents/officers (counter snipers are officers, not agents) sends it to the LEAD ADVANCE AGENT — who then send all their detailed manpower requests to the Assistant Director Protective Operations, or ADPO, back in Washington, a GS-14 or around that level of official, who reviews the plan, looks at all the diagrams, and they decide what kind of resources the event is going to get.

There are almost always cuts, an notion of “do more with less,” a source within the Secret Service community tells me.

My sources tell me these GS-14s or around that level of manager, get bonuses based on how much money they can save for the agency based on the cuts.

“They put it in their final reports to their managers, ‘Hey, look how much money we saved this year,'” the source continued.. “It’s really goofy, because they look a all the diagrams, and in their wisdom back in D.C. — they’re not the ones at the site — how much, how many resources you’re gonna get.”

And then this:

Sen. Ron Johnson and his staff have written an initial report from his bipartisan investigation informed by whistleblowers who have talked to his office. I’ve obtained the 13-page executive summary of it.

Some of this Sen. Johnson discussed with Fox News Morning with Maria this morning — but here are all the details and the report itself.

Key findings:

1.) Secret Service did not attend a security briefing provided to local special weapons and tactics (SWAT) and sniper teams the morning of July 13, 2024. Why not?

–There was a 9 a.m. briefing on July 13, 2024, Butler County Emergency Services (Butler ESU) provided a security briefing for the local SWAT teams and snipers assigned to the rally. In addition to Butler County, local SWAT teams and snipers from Washington County and Beaver County were also tasked with security responsibilities.

2. Local law enforcement said communications were siloed and they were not in frequent radio contact directly with Secret Service.

3. Local law enforcement notified command about Crooks prior to the shooting and received confirmation that Secret Service was aware of the notification.

4. Following the shooting Secret Service was seen on the roof of the AGR building with local law enforcement; photos of the shooter were sent to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) for facial recognition.

5.) Secret Service was initially not going to send snipers to the rally, according to local law enforcement.

If Cheatle arrives, she better be prepared to get pummeled because she deserves it.