Video footage reveals complaints from local Pennsylvania police who claim to have warned U.S. Secret Service to secure the rooftop of the warehouse where Donald Trump’s would-be assassin took aim.
The footage, which was obtained and reviewed by The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), details exasperation expressed by officers within minutes of the shooting, which left one spectator dead, three others injured, including Trump.
“I f------ told them that they needed to post guys f------ over here. … I told them that f------ Tuesday,” a Butler Township officer said according to audio captured on a body cam.
The rally where Thomas Matthew Crooks attempted to murder the former president took place on Saturday, July 13.
“I talked to the Secret Service guys. They’re like, ‘Yeah, no problem. We’re going to post guys over here,’” the officer added.
“I thought you guys were on the roof,” said another officer who arrived at the warehouse about 10 minutes after the shooting. “I thought it was you. I thought it was you.”
“No” was the reply confirming that no officers were on the roof.
“What the f---?” the officer responded. “Why were we not on the roof? Why weren’t we?”
Lt. Matthew Pearson of the Butler Township Police did not provide the names of officers recorded on the body cam footage reviewed by the outlet, which obtained the evidence after submitting a public records request.
“Butler Township Police are cooperating with an internal Secret Service investigation so we cannot comment at this time,” Pearson told WSJ.
“Federal law-enforcement officials have said the Secret Service believed the snipers from the Butler County Emergency Services Unit were supposed to secure the roof of the building where Crooks fired his rifle,” WSJ reports. “However, the local law-enforcement official involved in the event planning previously said the tactical team’s heads told the Secret Service during the walk-through that its snipers would be inside the building on its second floor.”
The outlet's report was published the same day additional body cam footage from Butler Township Police was released on X.
The widely circulated six-and-a-half-minute clip does not have sound for the first two minutes.
"He turned around on me," one officer says in an apparent reference to Crooks. "Who's got eyes on him?"
"He's got glasses, long hair," the officer adds after describing the shooter's position and AR-15. "I popped my head right in front of him, bro." Breaking: Bodycam footage reveals officer’s rooftop confrontation with would-be Trump assassin pic.twitter.com/kZvIIq1zmv
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Both current and former directors of the Secret Service have admitted that the agency failed to protect Trump.
“This was a secret service failure. That roofline should have been covered. We should have had better eyes on that,” said Ronald Rowe.
Prior to her resignation, during Rep. Nancy Mace’s (R-S.C.) line of “yes-or-no” questioning on July 22, then-director Kimberly Cheatle acknowledged that the shooting represented a “colossal failure” on behalf of the Secret Service.
