Tag: donald trump

Failed Trump Assassin Purchased Ladder and 50 Rounds of Ammo on the Morning of the Rally, According to New Report

Failed Trump assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks appears to have purchased the ladder he used to scale the building and 50 rounds of ammunition on the morning of the Butler, Pennsylvania, rally.

According to a report from CNN citing law enforcement officials, Crooks bought the ladder from Home Depot on the day he tried to assassinate Trump from the roof of a nearby building.

If this report is accurate and to be believed, Crooks may have made it past law enforcement and the Secret Service carrying a very tall ladder and used it to climb the building unnoticed.

CNN reports:

On Friday, he went to a shooting range where he was a member, and practiced firing, a law enforcement official told CNN. The next morning, Crooks went to a Home Depot, where he bought a five-foot ladder, and a gun store, where he purchased 50 rounds of ammunition, the official said.

Then, Crooks drove his Hyundai Sonata about an hour north, joining thousands of people from around the region who flocked to Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. He parked the car outside the rally, with an improvised explosive device hidden in the trunk that was wired to a transmitter he carried, the official said. Then, investigators believe, he used his newly-bought ladder to scale a nearby building, and opened fire on the former president.

The report noted, “It’s not clear whether Crooks used the ammunition or the ladder that he bought on Saturday during his attack later that day.” However, a ladder was prominently propped up against the building where Crooks would shoot from.

Crooks also had a detonator on his person and explosives attached to a receiver in his vehicle’s trunk.

Oddly, the report says that no motives have been found for the shooting and that his online history does not reveal a “political or ideological impetus for the shooting.” His activities online suggest an interest in coding and gaming.

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“I’ve Heard From Him” – Biden When Asked If It’s Acceptable That He Hasn’t Heard From the Secret Service Director Since Trump Assassination Attempt – The SS Director is a WOMAN! 

Joe Biden sat down for an interview with NBC’s Lester Holt to discuss the assassination attempt against President Trump.

A bullet grazed President Trump’s ear on Saturday during his Pennsylvania rally.

In an appalling breach of security, a gunman was able to climb on top of a roof next to Trump’s Butler, Pennsylvania rally and put Trump in his scope.

President Trump raised his fist and shouted, “Fight! Fight! Fight!” after a bullet grazed his ear.

Lester Holt asked Biden if it is acceptable that he has not heard from his DEI Secret Service Director.

“Is it acceptable that you have still not heard, at least publicly, from the Secret Service Director?” Lester Holt asked Biden.

“Oh, I’ve heard from him,” Biden said.

The Secret Service Director, Kimberly Cheatle, is a WOMAN!

Lester Holt swooped in to save Joe Biden: “Have you heard from her publicly?”

Biden looked spooked as he realized the Secret Service Director is not a “he.”

He quickly thought of a lie.

“Publicly I’ve sat down in the Situation Room downstairs – the Secret Service, the FBI, National Security agencies – Homeland Security – all the major elements,” Biden said.

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7 Things We Know About The Man That Shot Trump

I am still in shock.  When I first learned that Donald Trump had been shot, I literally had difficulty processing the information.  I watched footage of the shooting over and over, and honestly I am still trying to put the pieces together.  The Secret Service is supposed to be far better at protecting our leaders than this.

If Trump had not shifted his head at the last moment, he would have almost certainly been killed.  Sadly, firefighter Corey Comperatore was not so fortunate.  He was killed by one of the bullets that the shooter fired.  Trump was hit in the ear, but we are being told that he is doing just fine.  But how long will it be before someone else tries again?

What we just witnessed is truly, truly horrible.  No matter how you plan to vote, we should all be united in denouncing political violence.

For years, many of our political leaders and many in the mainstream media have been using extremely inflammatory language to denounce Donald Trump, and this has caused emotions to run extremely high.

It was only a matter of time before all of that inflammatory language inspired someone to commit an act of great violence.

The following are 8 things that we know about the man that shot Trump…

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A Failure of Secret Service Security So Astounding the Conspiracy Theories Write Themselves

As everyone knows, Donald J. Trump, the 45th President of the United States and the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party for the 2024 Presidential election, was nearly assassinated yesterday at a campaign rally near Butler, Pennsylvania. Many people – including many of my readers – have predicted that something like this would happen for a very long time.

A 20-year-old sniper named Thomas Matthew Crooks fired as many as eight shots in Trump’s direction, nine minutes after he began speaking. Crooks was perched on the roof of a building just north of Trump’s podium, and he succeeded only in wounding the former President in his right ear; two other spectators were critically injured and another was killed. The Secret Service Counter Assault Team brought the attack to an end with a fatal shot to Crooks’s head (here is a graphic image of the aftermath). Trump, meanwhile, ducked to the ground while agents shielded him with their bodies. Half a minute later he stood up, demanded that his protectors allow him to get his shoes, and raised a defiant fist to the audience, shouting “Fight, fight, fight”.

Almost anything I say about these events will be superseded by media reporting within hours, so I’ll limit myself to three points:

1) The failed assassination represents a security failure by United States Secret Service that is so astounding, it will rightly inspire conspiracy theories for years to come. Kevin Rojek, who heads the Pittsburg field office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, acknowledged that it was “surprising” that Crooks was able to take so many shots unchallenged. And I can think of no reason why Trump’s detail should’ve drawn their security perimeter to exclude a prominent, elevated firing position a mere 130 metres away from Trump’s podium. Finally, there is the fact that Crooks and his rifle were visible to spectators for minutes before he opened fire; multiple rally attendees tried to alert police, fruitlessly. There is even a screen grab of drone footage circulating on social media, showing Crooks climbing onto the building.

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Veteran Whose Team Holds World Record for Long-Range Sniper Shots Claims Thomas Matthew Crooks May Have Had Inside Help

Dallas Alexander, a veteran sniper whose team holds the world record for the longest confirmed sniper kill, has suggested that Thomas Matthew Crooks, the 20-year-old who attempted to assassinate former President Donald Trump at a rally on Saturday night, may have had inside help.

Alexander, who spent 14 years in a sniper team for the Canadian military providing close protection for major world leaders including the Canadian Prime Minister, shared his views in an Instagram post.

“I’m a retired sniper so because I’ve been asked so many times here’s my opinion on the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump,” he began, before delving into his analysis of the assassination attempt.

Having served in a tier one special operations unit called JTF2, Alexander is no stranger to high-stakes security scenarios. His experience includes providing security for VIPs in dangerous countries like Iraq and Afghanistan.

“I spent just about 17 years in the military, 14 of which, just about 14 of which we’re at a tier one special operations unit called JTF2. Our sniper team has the world record for the longest confirmed sniper kill. A huge part of our job while I was there and while I was a sniper was doing close protection for VIPs up to and including the Prime Minister, when he would go to dangerous countries like Iraq or Afghanistan, we would be in charge of that security,” said Alexander.

This background gives him unique insights into the layout and security measures typically involved in protecting high-profile individuals such as former President Trump.

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Alleged Trump shooter spotted by law enforcement nearly 30 minutes before shots fired, sources say

 Channel 11 News uncovered dramatic new details Monday in the moments leading up to the assassination attempt on former president Donald Trump. According to multiple law enforcement sources, Thomas Crooks was spotted by law enforcement on a roof nearly 30 minutes before shots were fired that injured Trump, killed a former fire chief and injured two others in the crowd.

Channel 11′s Nicole Ford confirmed that Beaver County’s ESU team had eight members at the rally, including snipers and spotters. According to Ford’s sources, one of them noticed a suspicious man on a roof near the rally at 5:45 p.m., called it in and took a picture of the person. We have learned from our sources the person in that picture is Thomas Crooks. We’re told it’s not clear if Crooks had a gun with him at that point.

According to multiple sources, a law enforcement officer had also previously seen Crooks on the ground and called him in as a suspicious person with a picture prior to 5:45 p.m. Our sources tell us an officer checked the grounds for Crooks at that point, but did not see him where the first picture was taken.

26 minutes after the second picture of Crooks was taken by law enforcement and the information called in, shots were fired from the roof of the American Glass Research building. Seconds later, a Secret Service sniper returned fire and killed Crooks.

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Five unanswered questions over assassination attempt on Donald Trump including why was rooftop unsecured despite being identified as a security risk, how Matthew Crooks got on the roof and why it took so long for snipers to take him out

Questions surrounding how would-be political assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks managed to get into a position just 100 feet from Donald Trump was speaking, take aim with a rifle and fire off at least eight shots, remain. 

Crooks, 20, was shot dead by a Secret Service sniper moments after he opened fire at the Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13. The presumptive Republican nominee was wounded in the ear while supporter Corey Comperatore tragically lost his life.

In the aftermath of a seismic day in US politics, it now appears that it was sheer luck that Trump was not killed by Crooks’ gunfire which the ex-president’s ear and did not cause major injury. 

The Secret Service is coming in for the most scrutiny of their handling of the event. The building that Crooks’ fired from was identified as a security risk but the shooter was still able to establish a position and fire off multiple shots.  

New videos appear to confirm witnesses accounts that attendees at the rally notified law enforcement about Crooks’ presence after seeing him bear crawling and armed atop the building. 

After witnesses alerted cops when they saw Crooks bear crawling, an officer was hoisted by another officer on to the rooftop. 

Once there, Crooks trained his gun on the officer, forcing him to duck for cover. Moments later, shots rang out, terrifying the crowd. 

Trump was said to be in ‘great spirits’ on Sunday while telling the Washington Examiner that he has rewritten the speech he will deliver at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee this week.

Meanwhile, President Joe Biden spoke for about five minutes from the Oval Office and noted that the Republican National Convention was opening in Milwaukee on Monday, while he himself would be traveling the country to campaign for reelection.

He said passions would run high on both sides and that the stakes of the election were enormous.

But the president added, ‘it’s time to cool it down’ and noted not just the weekend attack on Trump but also the possibility of election-year violence on multiple fronts.

Here, the MailOnline looks at five of the key unanswered questions surrounding the first assassination attempt in 43 years and the security lapses around it.

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Feds question Trump shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks’ parents, neighbors as they scramble to figure out motive

Federal agents are still searching for a motive on Monday — two days after Thomas Matthew Crooks shot and wounded former President Donald Trump in an assassination attempt.

Agents wearing shirts emblazoned with “Pittsburgh Bureau of Federal Investigation” have spent the morning speaking to the Crookses and their neighbors, brandishing their badges at the front door.

“They asked questions I didn’t really have answers to. I’m not really one to go around talking to my neighbors,” said Kelly Little, 38, who has lived across the street from the Crookses’ modest one-story brick house since 2018.

Law enforcement sources told The Post that investigators are waiting for details from Crooks’ phone and computer to help them determine why he fired on Trump at Saturday’s rally on Saturday.

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10 Burning Questions That Every American Should Be Asking About The Trump Shooting

The people that guard our leaders are supposed to be the most highly trained security personnel in the world.  So how could something like this have happened?  As I mentioned in a previous article, I have been trying to put the pieces together.  To me, it appears that we either just witnessed incompetence on an epic scale or something more insidious was going on out there.  The American people deserve answers, and hopefully we will get them.  But I think that one thing is clear.  I don’t see any possible way that the head of the Secret Service, Kimberly Cheatle, can be allowed to keep her job.  There is no way that this shooting would have happened the way that it did if competent people were running the show.

I have been digging into what many of the experts have been saying about this incident, and there is so much that just doesn’t make sense.

So I have compiled a list of 10 burning questions that every American should be asking about the Trump shooting…

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Secret Service blames local police, says they were tasked with securing properties surrounding Trump’s Pa. rally

The Secret Service blamed local police for failing to secure the rooftop from which gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks attempted to assassinate former President Donald Trump, insisting it was outside the perimeter the federal agency was tasked with protecting.

Instead, securing and patrolling the factory grounds of AGR International Inc. — located about 130 yards from the stage where Trump was speaking Saturday — was the responsibility of local Pennsylvania police, Secret Service representative Anthony Gugliemi said, according to the New York Times.

The Secret Service was only tasked with covering the grounds where Trump’s rally took place, with local police being recruited to assist with those efforts and secure the area outside the rally.

But neighbors living near Butler Farm Show Grounds told The Post they were never visited by any law enforcement agencies — local or federal — in the days before or during the rally.

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