Trump’s Would-Be Assassin Identified As Threat 1 Hour Before Attack But Lost In Crowd, Report Says – News18

Former US President Donald Trump’s would-be assassin was flagged as “suspicious” by the Secret Service up to an hour before he began shooting but was subsequently lost in the crowd, Republican lawmakers were informed.

During closed briefings to both the House and Senate on Wednesday, US law enforcement officials, including those from the Secret Service, revealed new information about the security lapses and the gunman involved in the attack at a Trump rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday.

Wyoming Senator John Barrasso reported that the Secret Service had identified Thomas Matthew Crooks, who carried a rangefinder and a backpack, as suspicious more than an hour before the shooting. Despite this, he was not tracked effectively. “You would think that over the course of that hour, you shouldn’t lose sight of the individual,” Barrasso told Fox News.

The briefings also disclosed that Crooks had visited the Butler County fairgrounds, the site of the attack, at least once before and had searched for symptoms of depressive disorder on his phone. The gunman had looked up images of both Trump and President Joe Biden. FBI Director Christopher Wray confirmed that over 200 interviews and 14,000 image reviews had been conducted.

Several Republican senators rebuked the lack of transparency from investigators and expressed outrage that Trump was allowed to take the stage despite the identified threat. “I am appalled to learn that the Secret Service knew about a threat prior to President Trump walking on stage,” Senator Marsha Blackburn said in a post on social media platform ‘X’.

A local tactical team’s sniper had photographed the gunman with the rangefinder and reported it to a command post, but the gunman was only spotted again on the roof 20 minutes before the attack. According to US media reports, Secret Service snipers killed him within 26 seconds of his opening fire.

Top US Senators, including Mitch McConnell and Mike Lee, have called for the resignation of Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle. House Speaker Mike Johnson announced plans to launch a bipartisan investigation into the attack. Under fire, Cheatle is scheduled to testify next week before the House Oversight and Homeland Security Committees.

She said that local police were relied upon to secure the building where the gunman climbed and prepared to attack. The Butler Township Commissioner accused the Secret Service Director of “lying,” asserting that the building the shooter was on was the responsibility of the local police department. According to Fox News, the local Butler Township Police were assigned only “strictly traffic detail.” “I was so frustrated and frankly hit my limit last night when I saw the Secret Service saying it was the responsibility of the local police department,” he said.