Former President Donald Trump stood inches away from death Saturday as a shooter’s bullet grazed his ear right before Secret Service agents took the former president down to the ground, later helping him off stage and to a local hospital. Trump did not suffer significant injury.
Several people in the audience had spotted the shooter before he fired and pointed him out to Secret Service agents and law enforcement. Trump’s security, however, failed to react sufficiently to halt the shooter from firing, taking him down only after he shot and killed a person in the audience and injured Trump along with two others.
Multiple inquiries are already underway into Trump’s security and the Secret Service. Here’s what we know about the agency’s role in response to the shooting.
Secret Service availability
Rumors floated around that Secret Service resources had been diverted from Trump to first lady Jill Biden’s appearance in Pittsburgh, less than 35 miles away from Trump’s rally. A Secret Service spokesman, Anthony Guglielmi, called this assertion “very wrong” and said the agency did not divert resources.
In fact, he said, the agency “added protective resources, technology, and capabilities as part of the increased campaign travel tempo.”
The agency had two counterassault agents on the scene and filled out the rest of a typical group with at least six Butler County tactical units. Two Secret Service counter-sniper teams were also on the scene, but two additional teams that had been recommended for adequate protection at the rally were staffed by local units, an agency spokesperson said.
Security mishaps
The shooter, identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks, gained access to a rooftop with a clear line of sight to Trump. The rooftop was one of the only points of elevation in the area in which a shooter could have had a shot at Trump. Buildings behind the stage were secured by Secret Service agents, where they would eventually shoot Crooks dead. According to the Associated Press, the rooftop was fewer than 150 meters away from Trump.
NBC News reported the rooftop was identified as a “potential vulnerability” in the days before the event. Department of Homeland Security Chief Alejandro Mayorkas lamented that the shooter was able to gain his position.
“A direct line of sight like that to the former president should not occur,” Mayorkas said Monday.
A local police officer had climbed a ladder leading to the rooftop where the shooter was, but the assailant aimed his rifle at the officer, causing him to retreat before turning around and shooting Trump.
Butler County Sheriff Michael T. Sloupe said the officer was gripping the edge of the roof after climbing up using a ladder and could not reach his gun when Crooks aimed at him.
“He lets go because he doesn’t want to get killed,” the sheriff said.
The officer was the only known person to have had a chance at stopping Crooks, other than the two counter-snipers present.
A person online claiming to be Jonathan Willis, who is said to be one of the two snipers on the rooftop, posted on 4chan that he was denied an opportunity to shoot Crooks before he fired at Trump by the head of the agency. He said he didn’t follow orders and engaged anyway.
He said he was arrested and questioned by the FBI afterward, lost his job, then was released on Sunday. The Washington Examiner could not verify the person’s claim or the authenticity of the post.
Investigations announced following criticism
An array of investigations have or will soon begin as the Secret Service receives more criticism about its failures Saturday. President Joe Biden ordered “an independent review of the national security at yesterday’s rally to assess exactly what happened” in a speech Sunday. The House Oversight Committee will hold a hearing with Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle on July 22. Axios reported the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs will also conduct an investigation into the shooting.
Rep. Tim Burchett (R-OH) blamed DEI in part for the agency’s failed attempt to protect Trump on Saturday, saying Cheatle is a “DEI person” and “this is what happens when you don’t put the best players in.”
Cheatle previously stated that she’s conscious “of making sure that we need to attract diverse candidates” in the pursuit of DEI.
Other conservative commentators criticized the presence of female agents who were shorter than Trump attempting to protect the former president.
“You need to be taller than the candidate to protect them with your body,” Meghan McCain said. “Why do they have these short women (one who can’t holster a gun apparently) guarding Trump?”
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The assassination attempt was the most serious attempt to kill a president or presidential candidate since 1981.
However, there have been multiple assassination plots on presidents in recent years. The most notable include a man attempting to grab an officer’s gun to kill Trump in 2016 and Oscar Ramiro Ortega-Hernandez’s shooting toward the White House in 2011, which injured nobody.