Blame Game Begins: Secret Service Points Finger at Local Police Over Security Lapses at Trump’s Pennsylvania Rally
The blame game begins.
The Secret Service has pointed the finger at local police for failing to secure the rooftop from which Matthew Crooks attempted to assassinate former President Donald Trump. The agency insists that the area was outside the perimeter they were tasked with protecting.
According to a report by the New York Times, Anthony Gugliemi, a spokesperson for the Secret Service, claimed that their responsibility was confined only to the immediate vicinity of the rally at Butler Farm Show Grounds.
The adjacent areas, including the AGR International Inc. factory site from where Crooks launched his attack, fell under the jurisdiction of local law enforcement.
Residents near the venue expressed their dismay over the apparent lack of security measures in the days leading up to the event.
Valerie Fennell, a local homeowner, told The New York Post, “Nobody contacted me. Nobody. Nobody called me, nobody stopped here.”
“I kinda was thinking that as close as my house is, that I honestly thought this might be part of a command station at some point,” she said, adding, “I was talking to my neighbors yesterday, and none of them had gotten a call. Or anything… I guess it’s kind of the same question that everybody has. I guess, as far as like, why that area wasn’t secure.”
New video posted to X shows the would-be Trump assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks bear crawling on the roof as bystanders point him out to law enforcement.
An officer was right next to the building as bystanders alerted him to the potential threat.
After audience members pointed out to local law enforcement officers that Crooks was climbing a ladder onto the roof of a building, the officer followed and eventually confronted the would-be assassin.
Crooks responded by pointing his gun at the officer. The person in blue retreated down the ladder, and Crooks immediately fired a shot at Trump.
A new report by NBC News revealed the Secret Service identified the rooftop next to Trump’s Butler, Pennsylvania event as a security vulnerability days before the rally.
The agents failed to secure the building so a man with a rifle was able to climb up to the roof, position his scope, and fire several shots at President Trump.
A bullet grazed Trump’s right ear. Two rally attendees were wounded. One Trump supporter was fatally shot.
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