Tag: assassination attempt

Secret Service Brass Interfered in Inspector General Assassination Probe

RealClearWire
U.S. Secret Service

Secret Service leaders meddled in an independent government investigation of the July 13 assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump and are still not following many basic agency security protocols for presidential candidates, presidents, and vice presidents in the final days before the election, according to emails reviewed by RealClearPolitics and several sources in the Secret Service community.

Read the full story

Judge Seeks ‘Limited Protective Order’ in Trump Assassination Case

The Center Square
Ryan Routh

A judge overseeing the case against the man accused of trying to kill former President Donald Trump during a round of golf ordered prosecutors and defense attorneys back to the drawing board on a proposed protective order.

Prosecutors had sought a broad order that would prevent 58-year-old Hawaii resident Ryan Wesley Routh from having access to evidence in the case outside the presence of his attorneys unless authorized by prosecutors.

Read the full story

Florida Sues Biden-Harris DOJ for Allegedly Blocking Trump Assassination Attempt Investigation

Daily Caller News Foundation
Ashley Moody

Florida sued the Biden-Harris administration’s Department of Justice (DOJ) Wednesday for allegedly blocking the state’s investigation into the second Trump assassination attempt.

Federal officials almost immediately began “taking steps to halt the state’s investigation” into Ryan Wesley Routh, who was indicted for attempting  to assassinate former President Donald Trump at his Florida golf course in September, the lawsuit states.

Read the full story

Task Force Probing Trump Assassination Attempt in Butler Finds ‘Unclear Chains of Command’ in Report

Just the News
Donald Trump, Assassination Attempt July 13, 2024

The bipartisan House task force on the first assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump released its interim report Monday morning, finding “an unclear chains of command” in the security at site of the incident, a July 13 campaign rally.

The rally, in Butler, Pennsylvania, was for Trump’s GOP presidential bid. The gunman, Thomas Cooks, fired 10 shot from a rooftop in the American Glass Research complex, a series of buildings about 150 yards from the rally stage and outside to the hard security perimeter.

Read the full story

Trump Assassination Attempt Suspect Seeks Judge’s Recusal from Case

Daily Caller News Foundation

The man accused of attempting to assassinate former President Donald Trump at his Florida golf course in September filed a motion Thursday requesting that U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon recuse herself from the case.

Ryan Routh’s legal team raised concerns about Cannon’s impartiality due to her appointment by Trump and the former president’s public praise of her judicial decisions regarding his classified documents case, according to the motion. Routh’s attorneys argued that the unique nature of the case could lead the public to question the fairness of the proceedings.

Read the full story

Analysis: Win or Lose, Trump Completes Comeback of the Century in Return to Butler, Pennsylvania

The Daily Torch
Trump in Butler, PA

On Oct. 5, former President Donald Trump historically returned to Butler, Pa. at the site he was nearly assassinated at on July 13, paying tribute to the fallen Corey Comperatore in a touching moment of silence with the race for Pennsylvania hanging in the balance, with the latest average of polls compiled by RealClearPolling.com showing the Commonwealth all tied up between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, with each garnering 48.2 percent.

Read the full story

DOJ Publishes Letter by Alleged Attempted Trump Assassin Despite FBI Memo Policy Against Release of ‘Legacy Tokens’

Tom Pappert
Ryan Wesley Routh

A note purportedly written by Ryan Wesley Routh, who is accused of attempting to assassinate former President Donald Trump on September 15, was released on Monday by the Department of Justice (DOJ) in a public court filing.

According to the court filing, Routh asked an associate to keep a box of his belongings. After the attack, the associate opened the box and discovered the letter, wherein prosecutors claim Routh confirmed his intent to assassinate Trump and offered a $150,000 bounty should someone prove successful.

Read the full story

Sen. Blackburn Demands Secret Service Increase Trump’s Security on Heels of ‘Unfathomable’ Second Assassination Attempt

Tom Pappert
Senator Marsha Blackburn

Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) on Monday demanded the U.S. Secret Service increase the level of security provided to former President Donald Trump to that of a sitting president, calling the second attempt to assassinate the former president, which happened on Sunday in Florida, an “unfathomable and unacceptable” development for the agency.

Blackburn revealed her demand in a letter to Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe, who began leading the agency following the resignation of former director Kimberly Cheatle as the agency’s shortcomings during the first assassination attempt were revealed.

Read the full story

Longtime Political Analyst Chris Cilizza Unloads on People Downplaying Trump Assassination Attempts

Daily Caller News Foundation

Trump faced a second assassination attempt on Sunday but experienced no injury this time as a Secret Service agent fired shots at a man with a semi-automatic rifle while the former president was golfing at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach. Cillizza, on his YouTube channel, said people who minimize the gravity of the attempts on Trump’s life undermine “our democracy” and must stop.

Read the full story

Melania Trump Wants Answers on Husband’s Shooting: ‘More to This Story’

Just the News
Melania Trump and Donald Trump

Former first lady Melania Trump on Tuesday questioned the actions of law enforcement in connection with the July 13 assassination attempt on her husband.

“The attempt to end my husband’s life was a horrible, distressing experience. Now the silence around it is heavy,” she said in a video posted to X. “I can’t help but wonder, why did law enforcement officials arrest the shooter before the speech?”

Read the full story

Whistleblower Alerts Hawley That Security Agents at Trump Rally Lacked Proper Training

Daily Caller News Foundation
Josh Hawley

A whistleblower told Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri in a letter released on Tuesday that the Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents assigned to former President Donald Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, were “egregiously under-prepared.”

The whistleblower told Hawley that the HSI agents were taken off child exploitation cases and reassigned in partnership with U.S. Secret Service (USSS) to work security at the rally, according to the letter. Ahead of the event, the HSI agents received just a two-hour “webinar” that lacked substance and was “riddled with technical mishaps,” with the whistleblower claiming that the training is unchanged even after the assassination attempt.

Read the full story

Butler Township Police Find No Written Communications Between Officer Who Confronted Would-Be Trump Assassin and Secret Service

Tom Pappert
Butler Township Police Bodycam

The Butler Township Police Department (BTPD) told The Pennsylvania Daily Star on Monday it has no records of written communications between the U.S. Secret Service and Thomas Crooks, who attempted to assassinate former President Donald Trump on July 13.

The department confirmed it had no records of written communications between the Secret Service and its officer on Monday, just under one month after he encountered Crooks while being hoisted onto the roof of the AGR International building the would-be assassin used to gain his vantage point on the rally.

Read the full story

Butler Township Police Decline to Name Officer Who Claimed to Warn Secret Service of Would-Be Trump Assassin’s Perch, Cite ‘Numerous Investigations’

Tom Pappert
Butler Township Police Video

The Butler Township Police Department (BTPD) on Friday declined to provide The Pennsylvania Daily Star with the name of the police officer who claimed to warn the U.S. Secret Service about the possibility of an assassination attempt in a June 13 bodycam video released by the department Thursday.

The spokesman similarly declined to comment to The Star regarding the videos released by the department, citing ongoing federal investigations into the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump.

Read the full story

ABC’s ‘This Week’ Interviews SWAT Sharpshooters: Group Had ‘No Communication’ with Secret Service Prior to Trump Assassination Attempt

Admin
Local SWAT Sharpshooters

The lead sharpshooter of the SWAT Team working alongside the U.S. Secret Service during the attempted assassination against former President Donald Trump said on Sunday that the group had “no communication” with the agency until after the shooting.

In an interview with ABC News reporter Aaron Katersky, the local SWAT team from Beaver County, Pennsylvania, appeared on the outlet to discuss security concerns from the day around the assassination attempt against Trump. On the day of the rally, the SWAT group was positioned within the second floor of the building that shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks later used throughout the day to shoot from, with the lead sharp shooter noting that the SWAT team was supposed to receive a “face-to-face briefing” with the Secret Service agents when they had arrived on site; however, it never happened.

Read the full story

Bodycam Video Obtained by Sen. Chuck Grassley Suggests Countersniper was Stationed Feet Away from Attempted Trump Assassin

Tom Pappert
Trump Assassination Attempt Crime Scene

Police bodycam released by Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) on Tuesday shows Beaver County, Pennsylvania police officers tell a U.S. Secret Service agent a Butler County Police Department (BCPD) sniper was perched with a direct line-of-sight view of Thomas Michael Crooks as the 20-year-old attempted to assassinate former President Donald Trump on July 13.

According to Grassley, the dialogue confirms the sniper, identified as Greg in the video, captured photographs of the shooter and shared them with Secret Service, and was tracking him visually but lost sight prior to the shooting.

Read the full story

Secret Service Ditched Law Enforcement Meeting on Day of Attempted Trump Assassination, Senator Claims

Tom Pappert
Secret Service Snipers on a rootop

Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) claimed on Saturday that the U.S. Secret Service did not attend a law enforcement meeting in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13, the date former President Donald Trump was nearly assassinated by 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks at a campaign rally.

Johnson told “Sunday Morning Futures” host Maria Bartiromo on Sunday that his team learned the apparent lack of attendance by the Secret Service from local law enforcement.

Read the full story

Commentary: An Assassination Attempt Reveals DEI’s False Promises

RealClearWire
Kimberly Cheatle

For over a half century the proponents of DEI and its intellectual precursors have fought from high ground, not from a moral position, but a tactical and strategic one secured by Marxist indoctrination that has pervaded nearly every corner of society. 

The deliberate and methodical campaign has successfully muted public criticism, although privately most Americans felt that there is something terribly wrong with a philosophy that prioritizes appearance over ability. 

DEI’s commanding role in all branches of the military has resulted in no tangible benefits but a myriad of failures—falling morale and standards, recruitment shortfalls, plummeting public confidence in the military, poor leadership, and with the exception of the Marine Corps, the inability to fulfill basic mission requirements at an acceptable level. 

Read the full story

‘Too Painful to Tell’: Trump Recalls Assassination Attempt in RNC Speech

Just the News
Donald Trump

Former President Donald Trump on Thursday used his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention to issue a call for unity in wake of an assassination attempt against him over the weekend, which he described in detail.

“I stand before you this evening with a message of confidence, strength, and hope. Four months from now, we will have an incredible victory, and we will begin the four greatest years in the history of our country,” he opened. “The discord and division in our society must be healed. As Americans, we are bound together by a single fate and a shared destiny. We rise together. Or we fall apart. I am running to be president for ALL of America, not half of America, because there is no victory in winning for half of America.”

Read the full story

Attempted Trump Assassin Thomas Crooks Reportedly Diagnosed with ‘Major Depressive Disorder,’ Hinted at Attack on Gaming Platform

Tom Pappert
Thomas Matthew Crooks

Thomas Matthew Crooks, who was killed by a Secret Service counter-sniper during his failed assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump last Saturday, was reportedly diagnosed with major depressive disorder prior to his death.

It was also reported that Thomas Matthew Crooks foreshadowed his attack, which claimed the life Trump supporter Corey Comperatore and injured two others in addition to piercing the former president’s right ear, on the popular video game storefront and platform Steam.

Read the full story

Secret Service Chief Faces Mounting Pressure to Resign

RealClearWire
Kimberly Cheatle

New allegations that Secret Service training resources were reallocated to “executive leadership bonuses” and DEI-prioritized recruitment are among the torrent of charges leveled against agency Director Kim Cheatle and other top officials in the aftermath of the assassination attempt against Donald Trump.

Inside the main hall of Milwaukee’s Fiserv Forum, Republicans Thursday night were enjoying a Make America Great Again lovefest. But on the outside perimeter of the convention center, anger was still spewing over an avalanche of negative information about the layers of Secret Service failures that led to a bullet piercing Trump’s right ear, just millimeters away from killing him, four days ago at a rally in Pennsylvania.

Read the full story

McCormick Argues Trump’s ‘Remarkable Strength’ After Assassination Attempt is Alternative to ‘Sad, Disgraceful Decline’ Offered by Biden and Casey

Tom Pappert
Dave McCormick

Republican U.S. Senate nominee Dave McCormick spoke at the Republican National Convention (RNC) on Tuesday of the “remarkable strength” displayed by former President Donald Trump immediately after he survived the Saturday assassination attempt, and argued the former president’s example stands in contrast to the weakness and “disgraceful decline” offered by President Joe Biden and Senator Bob Casey (D-PA).

McCormick spoke on the second night of the RNC, which was titled “Make America Safe Once Again.” The former Trump administration official began by revealing his experience at the assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania.

Read the full story

Sen. Blackburn Confronts Stonewalling Secret Service Director at the RNC over Trump Assassination Attempt Coverup

Tom Pappert

Senators Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and John Barrasso (R-WY) on Wednesday confronted U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle on the floor of the Republican National Convention (RNC) over the Secret Service actions that preceded the Saturday assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump.

The Tennessee Star confirmed the confrontation happened at the Fiserv Forum in Mulwaukee, Wisconsin where the RNC is being held. Blackburn and Barrasso confronted Cheatle upstairs in a luxury suite just prior to 9 p.m., just minutes before Blackburn uploaded video to the social media platform X with the caption, “[t]he American people deserve answers from the Secret Service.”

Read the full story

Local Police Sniper Photographed Attempted Trump Assassin, Who Held Laser Rangefinder Prior to Shooting

Tom Pappert
Thomas Crooks

A sniper from one of the local law enforcement agencies providing assistance at former President Donald Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 14 saw Thomas Matthew Crooks, the 20-year-old shooter who was killed at the scene, and photographed the would-be assassin immediately prior to his attack, a Wednesday report claims.

The Pennsylvania publication Beaver Countian first reported on Monday it was a Beaver County police officer who warned his superiors of a man with a rangefinder, which is used to calculate distance when using a weapon, citing multiple local law enforcement sources who told the outlet “extremely poor planning” and a lack of manpower allowed the attempt on Trump’s life.

Read the full story

Dave McCormick, Sen. Bob Casey Each Raise $8 Million amid Pause in Advertising After Attempted Trump Assassination

Tom Pappert
PA Senate Candidates

Republican U.S. Senate nominee Dave McCormick and Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) both raised over $8 million over the last quarter, even as both candidates pause at least some of their advertising in the wake of the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump last Saturday.

McCormick raised slightly more than the Democratic incumbent, with his campaign reporting $8.4 million in receipts between April and June to the Federal Elections Commission. This includes a $2.06 million loan the former Trump administration official made to his own campaign.

Read the full story

Commentary: The Economics of Early Voting

Admin

After the recent assassination attempt on Donald J. Trump, some think the race is Trump’s to lose. I tend to agree that the race is in some ways Trump’s to lose, while at the same time feel very strongly that the left is not going to simply roll over and give up on trying to keep Trump from a second term.

So it’s important to not be over-exuberant; Trump is absolutely riding high right now, from the debacle of a debate for Biden to Judge Cannon dismissing the Jack Smith documents case to surviving an assassination attempt. But the right needs to focus on what takes place between now and November 5th, specifically on how every Republican and conservative can help Trump win by doing one simple thing: casting your ballot early.

Read the full story

Pennsylvania Democratic Party Silent amid Bipartisan Condemnation of Trump Assassination Attempt

Tom Pappert
State Senator Sharif Street

The Pennsylvania Democratic Party did not respond to The Pennsylvania Daily Star when asked about a statement after former President Donald Trump survived an assassination attempt in the commonwealth on Saturday.

Despite every member of Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation issuing statements expressing solidarity with Trump or condemning political violence, the Pennsylvania Democrats had yet to release a statement on their website, or social media accounts including X, Facebook or Instagram, by press time.

Read the full story

Pennsylvania Rally Attendee ‘We Thought the Shooter Was in the Crowd’

Jacob Grandstaff
Butler, Pennsylvania Trump rally

An attendee at former President Donald Trump’s Saturday rally in Butler, Pennsylvania told The Pennsylvania Daily Star that attendees feared the shooter stood among the crowd and felt relief only when Trump rose to his feet and raised his fist.

The attendee, who declined to be named, is from Scott Township, a suburb seven miles southwest of downtown Pittsburgh. He said he and his friends viewed the rally about 200 feet away, from Trump’s, left when Thomas Matthew Crooks attempted to assassinate the former president.

Read the full story

Secret Service Claims 21-Officer Butler Township Police Department Responsible for Building Used by Would-be Trump Assassin

Tom Pappert
Anthony Guglielmi

A spokesman for the U.S. Secret Service on Sunday appeared to blame the Butler Township Police Department (BTPD) for failing to secure the building that would-be assassin Thomas Crooks used to shoot former President Donald Trump before Crooks was killed at the rally on Saturday.

Secret Service spokesman Anthony Gugliemi claimed the agency was not responsible for securing the building, according to The New York Times, which reported it “was outside of the designated perimeter of the Trump rally, so it was secured by local law enforcement, not Secret Service agents.”

Read the full story

Pennsylvania Fire Captain Resigns After Celebrating Attempted Trump Assassination

Tom Pappert
Tony Bendele

Tony Bendele, a social media creator and trained firefighter in Pennsylvania, claimed he resigned his position as a captain in the Sunbury Fire Department on Monday after he expressed disappointment when an attempted assassin failed to kill former President Donald Trump at the Saturday rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

“Too bad it didn’t hit him square,” Bendele reportedly wrote in a now-deleted post to his Facebook page. A photographer, Bendele has more than 20,000 followers on the social media platform.

Read the full story

Trump Rally Attendee Confirms Pennsylvania U.S. Senate Candidate Dave McCormick ‘Definitely in the Line of Fire’ During Assassination Attempt

Tom Pappert
Brady Knox at the Donald Trump rally on July 13, 2024

An attendee who witnessed the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump at his Saturday campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania told The Pennsylvania Daily Star that Republican U.S. Senate candidate Dave McCormick was “definitely in the line of fire” as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire before being killed by Secret Service.

Brady Knox told The Star he was seated in the second row, “about as close as you could possibly get” to the former president at just 15 feet away, when Trump’s supporters in the front rows began to take cover after the former president reached for his ear and ducked below the podium.

Read the full story

Trump Rally Attendee Describes How Former President’s Fist Pumps Energized Crowd After Attempted Assassination

Tom Pappert
Brady Knox at the Donald Trump rally on July 13, 2024

An attendee who witnessed the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump at his Saturday campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania told The Pennsylvania Daily Star that Trump’s fist pumps toward the crowd created a sense of calm in an audience that was on the verge of panic.

Brady Knox told The Star he was seated in the second row, “about as close as you could possibly get” to the former president at just 15 feet away, when Trump’s supporters in the front rows began to take cover after the former president reached for his ear and ducked below the podium.

Read the full story