Democrat Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) warned that the American public would be ‘shocked, astonished, and appalled’ by the level of incompetence and failure within the Secret Service surrounding the July 13, 2024, assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump.
Trump almost got killed during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, by Thomas Crooks, an armed assailant who somehow infiltrated the rally, climbed onto rooftops, and fired off multiple shots.
Crooks, who had been seen staking out the rally beforehand, was able to carry a gun onto a rooftop, leap between buildings, and crawl across a metal roof before launching his attack.
According to Kimberly Cheatle, the former director of the Secret Service, security was a “colossal failure.”
The Gateway Pundit has published exclusive reports indicating the assembled group yelling, which included local patriot Greg Smith. The group could see the sniper team on the second floor.
Smith could also allegedly see that the second-floor sniper team was watching Crooks for a half hour prior to the shooting, doing nothing.
Chilling texts, which were obtained by the New York Times from local law enforcement, detail the frantic communications of counter snipers.
One of the countersnipers sent a message to his colleagues indicating that his shift was ending. At approximately 4:26 PM, he observed a suspicious individual—later identified as the assailant, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks—sitting on a picnic table just 50 yards from the exit.
“Guys I am out. Be safe,” the sniper wrote. “Someone followed our lead and snuck in and parked by our cars just so you know. I’m just letting you know because you see me go out with my rifle and put it in my car so he knows you guys are up there.”
He added that Crooks was “sitting to the direct right on a picnic table about 50 yards from the exit” in a message sent at 4:27 PM, a little over 90 minutes before the gunman fired. The two other countersnipers responded with a thumbs-up emoji and a “Roger that.”
Since that dark day, there has been little explanation from authorities as to how such a catastrophic failure in security could have occurred.
Even more damning is the revelation that former Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle and her agency reportedly denied repeated requests for increased security by worried agents assigned to Trump’s detail.
Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) shared whistleblower information about the dismal training provided to Homeland Security personnel assigned to protect Trump during the Butler rally.
According to the whistleblower, these agents received only a “two-hour online webinar” as their preparation for the high-stakes event. The training was described as inadequate, with pre-recorded videos riddled with technical glitches.
Blumenthal, speaking to reporters on Capitol Hill, promised that an upcoming report on the incident will reveal damning details about the Secret Service’s failures that day.
“I think the American people are going to be shocked, astonished, and appalled by what we will report to them about the failures by the Secret Service in this assassination attempt on a former president,” Blumenthal said.
This comes after acting U.S. Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe briefed senators on Thursday during a closed-door meeting, providing an update on the ongoing investigation into the attempted assassination, Fox News reported.
Blumenthal was tight-lipped on the specifics of the report but made it clear that the findings would expose a litany of errors.
“I’m not going to go into what we have learned in specifics. I’m giving you my reaction, and we will have a report very, very soon that I think will absolutely shock the American people, or it should, about the lapses and lags in the protection that was afforded that day, and the breakdown in communication, failure, and responsibility.”
He went on to blast DHS for its lack of transparency, calling out the department for withholding critical information.
“I think they also ought to be appalled and astonished by the failure of the Department of Homeland Security to be more forthcoming, to be as candid and frank as it should be to them in terms of providing information. And we are going to absolutely insist on the truth, and the whole truth, in documents and testimony, not only as members of the United States Senate but also as citizens.”
“It will be coming out shortly. And it’ll only be an interim report because there’s a lot more information that we need to find,” Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., told Fox News.
“And we hope once this report comes out and we can get the additional information necessary to have a complete report of what happened, as well as steps of what we need to do in the future to make sure that this never happens.”
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