Trump shooting mystery deepens amid graphic new video, questions about ‘man in grey suit’

Questions about the attempted assassination of Donald Trump continue to grow as investigations and fresh video footage uncover bizarre new details.

WARNING: Graphic

Questions about the attempted assassination of Donald Trump continue to grow as investigations and fresh video footage uncover head-scratching new details — including the identity of a mysterious “man in a grey suit” who climbed onto the sniper’s roof minutes after the shooting.

Graphic new bodycam footage shows local police and a Secret Service agent standing over the dead body of would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks as they appeared to confirm the 20-year sniper was identified as a suspicious person before he opened fire.

The bodycam video, released by Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley on Tuesday, shows Crooks’ body as a pool of blood trails along the roof where he wounded Mr Trump and killed a hero firefighter at a July 13 campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

One man, who appears to be a Secret Service agent, tells a Beaver County Emergency Services Unit (ESU) officer that Crooks’ body appeared to be the suspicious person who was previously reported to them.

“So this is the guy,” the agent says.

“This is him,” the Beaver County ESU officer replies.

The ESU officer also says a police sniper took photos of Crooks, including of him on a bicycle, according to the footage.

“That’s the sniper that sent the original picture and seen him come from the bike and set the book bag down and then lost sight of him,” the officer tells the apparent Secret Service agent.

Thomas Matthew Crooks’ body is seen in graphic new bodycam footage. Picture: Beaver County ESU

The clip appeared to confirm the 20-year was previously flagged as suspicious. Picture: Beaver County ESU

The two law enforcement officials then scroll through photos of the suspicious target on an iPhone.

Crooks’ gunfire grazed Mr Trump’s ear and hit three rally-goers, killing 50-year-old volunteer firefighter and married father-of-two Corey Comperatore.

The gunman was quickly shot and killed by a Secret Service agent.

Mr Grassley, a Republican, called on the Secret Service to release more information to the public as the federal law enforcement agency faces fierce criticism over security failures at the rally.

“Federal agencies, particularly the Secret Service, have failed to be transparent with the American people,” Mr Grassley said in a statement.

“This assassination attempt is a matter of substantial public interest, and the public’s business ought to be public.”

Mr Grassley released the video the same day Secret Service director Kimberly Cheatle stepped down following pressure from lawmakers.

Another video released Representative Eli Crane, Republican Congressman from Arizona, showed the view “from one of the windows the Secret Service had access to, overlooking the entire roof”.

“As you can see, they had complete coverage,” he wrote on X, where the video has been viewed 2.2 million times.

“Makes you wonder how on earth they allowed the shooter to access the roof, let alone crawl up it and fire several shots.”

‘Guy in the grey suit’

While on the roof, the local officers starting taking pictures of Crooks’ body, leading to another bizarre occurrence.

“Suddenly a guy in a grey suit walks up the ladder and goes up to the roof, and this guy in the grey suit who didn’t appear to have credentials, everybody assumed he was Secret Service,” Fox News host Maria Bartiromo said on Sunday, relaying information provided to Senator Ron Johnson.

“He tells one of the local law enforcement, ‘Send those pictures to this cell phone.’ And he gives him a number. Everyone assumes that must be Secret Service. It turns out it wasn’t Secret Service.”

Mr Johnson, Republican Senator from Wisconsin, released preliminary findings in his office’s independent probe of the assassination attempt on Sunday alleging a number of serious lapses in communication and planning between Secret Service and local authorities.

But the strangest detail was the unexplained presence of an agent from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).

“That sniper team that was in the AGR building, they were the first ones who went up on the roof, they were the first to encounter the dead assassin at that point in time,” Mr Johnson told Bartiromo.

“Later on other people joined them and somebody told them to send the pictures they had taken to an ATF agent, which I think is very strange. We called up that ATF agent, that individual said he was with the ATF, now he’s gone dark. Some guy in a suit walks up the ladder, they believed he was Secret Service, I’m not sure he gave credentials.”

Secret Service agents rush Donald Trump off the stage. Picture: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post/Getty Images

In his preliminary report, the Senator said after local law enforcement discovered a suspected remote triggering device near Crooks’ body, they were joined by the Allegheny County Bomb Squad and “one individual wearing a suit who local law enforcement assumed to be a Secret Service agent”.

“According to individuals on the roof, a member of the Allegheny County Bomb Squad requested the photos be sent to a phone number, with a 215 (Philadelphia) area code, which was stated to be for the ATF,” the report said.

“The ATF was apparently requesting the photos of Crooks for facial recognition purposes. Senator Johnson’s staff called the phone number and confirmed that it was, in fact, associated with the ATF.”

The report said that after subsequent attempts to speak with the individual, Senator Johnson’s office received an email from the ATF’s Acting Deputy Chief of Legislative Affairs.

“I’m reaching out because I understand that you that you reached out to our personnel in the Philadelphia Field Division with questions regarding the assassination attempt on former President Trump,” the email said.

“We would like to ask that you co-ordinate any of these kinds of requests through our office, so that we may in turn co-ordinate through Main Justice and our colleagues at FBI, which is the lead investigatory agency.”

Senator Johnson’s report said it was “unclear why ATF would be the agency responsible for conducting facial recognition in an attempt to identify Crooks, and whether ATF ultimately did conduct any facial recognition on the photos provided to their agent”.

A photo of the building is shown during Kimberly Cheatle’s testimony. Picture: Kent Nishimura/Getty Images/AFP

‘Catastrophic failure’

Mr Grassley also included a letter he wrote to the Secret Service and Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, demanding answers to outstanding questions about their “catastrophic failure” on July 13.

In the letter, the Senator said he received intelligence that the Secret Service had joint jurisdiction with local police over the AGR International building where Crooks was perched.

The Secret Service had previously claimed it was only in charge of the rally grounds, and that local police were in charge of securing AGR.

Mr Grassley included an unconfirmed map that showed different state law enforcement sectors the rally grounds had been broken into, but the AGR building is not included in any sectors.

“Is this document accurate?” the lawmaker asked in the letter.

Mr Grassley also included a law enforcement contact information sheet from the event, which noted that there was a “UAS” operator — an Unmanned Aerial System, better known as a drone — available during the event.

“Did the USSS, local, or state law enforcement deploy UASs or counter UASs for the July 13, 2024 rally?” Mr Grassley asked, noting reports that Crooks had deployed a drone of his own to case out the rally grounds before the shooting.

Law enforcement personnel on the rooftop video also mention a drone at one point.

He also pressed the Secret Service to answer questions about whether the water tower set back from the AGR grounds — which overlooked the entire AGR campus and may have had a clear view of Trump’s stage — played any part in the events of the day.

“Was the water tower cleared in advance of the rally?” Mr Grassley asked.

“Did the water tower have any role in the events at the Trump rally?”

The Secret Service director resigned on Tuesday. Picture: Chris Kleponis/AFP

Secret Service director resigns

Facing bipartisan calls to step down, Ms Cheatle resigned on Tuesday, a day after acknowledging that the agency had failed in its mission to prevent an assassination attempt against Mr Trump.

“It is overdue, she should have done this at least a week ago,” Mike Johnson, the Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives, told reporters.

“I’m happy to see that she has heeded the call of both Republicans and Democrats.”

President Joe Biden thanked Ms Cheatle for her nearly three decades in the Secret Service and said she had “selflessly dedicated and risked her life to protect our nation throughout her career”.

“We all know what happened that day can never happen again,” Mr Biden said in a statement. He said he would appoint a new director soon.

Mr Mayorkas said that Secret Service deputy director Ronald Rowe, a 24-year veteran of the agency, would serve as acting director until a replacement is named for Ms Cheatle.

Reacting to her resignation, Mr Trump wrote on Truth Social, “The Biden/Harris Administration did not properly protect me, and I was forced to take a bullet for Democracy. It was my great honour to do so!”

Ms Cheatle appeared before a congressional committee on Monday and said the attack on Mr Trump represented “the most significant operational failure of the Secret Service in decades” — a reference to the 1981 shooting of Ronald Reagan.

Both Republicans and Democrats called on Ms Cheatle to resign during the tense House hearing.

She drew the ire of lawmakers from both parties by refusing to provide specific details about the attack, citing the existence of multiple active investigations.

Ms Cheatle said the Secret Service was alerted “two to five times” ahead of the attack about a “suspicious individual” at the rally, but was unable to locate him before he opened fire.

Investigators have concluded that the gunman, who lived in a town about 80 kilometres from Butler, acted alone, and have not been able to identify any strong ideological or political leanings.

— with NY Post and AFP