Secret Service says local police not to blame for Trump shooting in major reversal

In a major reversal, the new Secret Service director said local law enforcement was not responsible for security failures that led to the attempted assassination of Donald Trump.

The new Secret Service director said local police should not be held responsible for security failures that led to the attempted assassination of Donald Trump.

In a major reversal to his testimony before Congress, acting director Ronald Rowe said “this was a Secret Service failure.

It comes after a whistleblower revealed that Mr Rowe personally directed cuts to the Secret Service agents who do threat assessments for events.

“In no way should any state or local agency supporting us in Butler on July 13th be held responsible for a Secret Service failure,” Mr Rowe told reporters at a rare press conference.

“This was a Secret Service failure. That roof line should have been covered – we should have had better eyes on (that).”

🚨🚨 NEW - Whistleblower tells me Secret Service Acting Director Rowe personally directed cuts to the USSS agents who do threat assessments for events. Whistleblower says those agents were NOT present in Butler - and some of them had warned of security problems for months pic.twitter.com/v9igQ5L7FZ

— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) August 1, 2024

Rowe’s testimony to Congress this week outraged Pennsylvania law enforcement officials who said he was “misleading the American people” by saying that local snipers should have spotted the shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks.

Beaver County District Attorney Nate Bible and Detective Patrick Young, head of the Beaver County Emergency Services Unit, told CNN that Rowe did not reach out to them before making the accusations to the Senate.

“For the acting director to say that this is where our guys were, and this is what they’ve seen, is a misrepresentation to the American people,” Mr Young said. “We were never asked what we’d seen or where we were from Secret Service. I can tell you that again — the pictures presented is again a misrepresentation.”

BOMBSHELL TRUMP RALLY FOOTAGE SHOWS FIGURE ON ROOF BEFORE CHAOS

Remarkable new footage filmed by a victim of Thomas Matthew Crooks shows a shadowy figure perched on a rooftop moments before eight shots were fired at Donald Trump.

The video shows the person scurrying across the AGR building near the position where Crooks, 20, had a direct line of sight to the former president.

The footage, obtained by Fox News, was captured by James Copenhaver at 6:08pm local time, just three minutes before Crooks opened fired at 6.11pm.

Two of those rounds hit Mr Copenhaver in the arm and abdomen, while other shots wounded David Dutch, 57, and killed Corey Comperatore, 50. Counter snipers killed Mr Crooks within 15.5 seconds.

A shadowy figure can be seen scurrying across the rooftop over the right shoulder of Donald Trump moments before Thomas Matthew Crooks opens fire. Picture: Supplied

The footage was filmed at 6.08pm, local time, as Crooks got into position for a direct line of sight to the former president. Picture: Supplied

Three minutes after the footage was filmed, Mr Crooks opened fire. Picture: Supplied

Mr Copenhaver’s lawyer, Joseph Feldman, said the 74-year-old was recovering in rehabilitation after the shooting.

“He had almost seen or heard something whiz past him, which we’re assuming was a bullet. He felt it on his arm, and he looked down at his arm … and felt pain initially, but he hadn’t even realised he had been shot a second time at that point. It could have been shock,” Mr Feldman told Fox News.

EXCLUSIVE: Haunting new footage from Trump rally shooting victim shows a figure moving across the roof before gunfire erupts: https://t.co/kBhnvoV81bpic.twitter.com/K97v8oi6r7

— Fox News (@FoxNews) July 31, 2024

The Secret Service had previously said that Mr Crooks was not spotted by counter snipers until seconds before opening fire.

A police officer who confronted Mr Crooks by peering over the roof ledge fell to the ground after the shooter’s rifle was pointed in his direction.

While the figure in the new video has not been positively identified, there are currently no other people known to be on the AGR building’s roof at the time the video was recorded.

FBI CLOSES IN ON ‘MOTIVE AND MINDSET’

Investigators believe they have discovered a secret social media account of Donald Trump’s shooter containing more than 700 posts described as “extreme”, providing a potential window into the “motive and mindset” of the would-be assassin.

It comes as the Secret Service’s new acting director Ronald Rowe told the Homeland Security and Judiciary Committees he was “ashamed” of the security failures that allowed Thomas Matthew Crooks to fire eight shots before counter-snipers killed him “within 15.5 seconds”.

FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate told the Senate a newly-unearthed social media account, “believed” to be associated with Crooks from 2019 to 2020 when was about 14 or 15 years old, espoused “anti-immigrant and anti-Semitic” content.

Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe testifies before a joint hearing of the Senate Judiciary and Homeland Security and Government Affairs committees. Picture: AFP

“While the investigative team is still working to verify this account to determine if it did, in fact, belong to the shooter, we believe it important to share and note it today, particularly given the general absence of other information to date from social media that reflect on the shooter’s potential motive and mindset,” Mr Abbate said.

The new account is separate from the account on Gab that the FBI also believes belonged to Mr Crooks, under the username “EpicMicrowave”, from 2021 when he was 15 or 16, that espoused pro-immigration and pro-lockdown views in overt support of President Joe Biden.

FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate said a new social media site belonging to Thomas Matthew Crooks has been discovered. Picture: AFP

The new social media account adds further complexity to the motive of Mr Crooks, who had reportedly donated to Democratic Party organisations while being registered to vote as a Republican.

Under questioning by Tennessee Senator Marsha Blackburn, Mr Abbate agreed that the Gab account also thought to belong to Mr Crooks espoused “pro-immigration, pro-lockdown, leftist views”.

“It does have differing points of view, it would appear,” Mr Abbate said.

BREAKING: The FBI is now claiming that the Trump shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks had an unspecified "social media account" in 2019/2020 (when he was 14/15 years old) that posted "anti-immigrant and anti-semitic" content.

This is not consistent with Gab's understanding of the… pic.twitter.com/UPPJSAkPqp

— Andrew Torba (@BasedTorba) July 30, 2024

The FBI said law enforcement knew about Mr Crooks as a “suspicious person” for about 90 minutes but that Mr Trump’s security detail and sniper team were not aware of a gunman until he opened fire.

Secret Service chief Ronald Rowe, who replaced former director Kimberly Cheatle, said he “cannot defend” why the roof was not better secured.

“I inspected the site and the AGR building. I went to the roof of the AGR building where the assailant fired shots and laid in a prone position to evaluate his line of sight. What I saw made me ashamed,” he said in his opening remarks.

He added that it was the security failure stemmed from a “failure of imagination” and that they didn’t challenge their assumptions that someone from local law enforcement would have covered the roof.

“The only thing we had was that locals were working an issue at the three o’clock — which would have been the former president’s right-hand side — which is where the shot came,” Rowe said.

“Nothing about a man on the roof, nothing about a man with a gun. None of that information ever made it over our net.”

Donald Trump grabs his right ear after being shot by Thomas Matthew Crooks. Picture: Getty Images

Crooks was killed within 15.5 seconds of firing his first shot. Picture: Supplied

Footage from the rally shows local cops with guns drawn surrounding the building for a full 2 minutes and 10 seconds before the shooting.

The clip, posted to X by user realDJStew724, shows police move to the building as Mr Trump can be heard speaking in the background.

“There’s f — king cops surrounding this whole entire f — king building right now,” a woman nearby says.

“Make yourself small,” someone else screams before another witness yells: “He’s got a gun!”

Someone gifted me a premium membership! I can upload longer videos here now. Thanks for all the birthday wishes my friends :) It was a good one

I'll get working on the next part in the morning. Goodnight everyone! pic.twitter.com/gvSKZZt39T

— Dave (@realDJStew724) July 29, 2024

Mr Rowe said the counter-sniper killed Mr Crooks within 15.5 seconds of the first shot, adding that the agent who made the kill shot was a friend.

“He exemplifies the courage, the skill and the ability to respond under great stress in such short time and neutralise the threat,” Mr Rowe said.

Mr Rowe also rebuffed claims from the local SWAT team that local law enforcement did not receive a briefing before the rally.

“With respect to the snipers that went on national television and gave an interview and said that they did not get a briefing from the Secret Service, they were not — they were supporting through mutual aid, and our personnel briefed the tactical team leader that was leading that element that was providing this counter-sniper,” he said.

Originally published as Secret Service says local police not to blame for Trump shooting in major reversal