The official House investigation into the assassination attempt against Donald Trump hasn’t even started, and we can tell there’s going to be damning and inexcusable flaws in the findings. The first one is obvious: a rooftop with a clear vantage point to the stage during Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, was left unprotected, allowing shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks to shoot the former president—a fatal headshot missed the former president by millimeters.
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There’s been a trove of updates, all of them bad, in the wake of this assassination attempt. The latest from ABC News points to a local SWAT team that claims there was zero contact between them and the Secret Service. It was only until after the shots were fired and the mayhem assessed. This team reportedly took photos, had a description, and did everything possible to alert support teams that a suspicious person was nearby. None of this information made it to the officials running point on security that day. The team also took responsibility for failing to protect the former president, which also led to three others being shot, one fatally. Firefighter Corey Comperatore died shielding his family from the gunfire:
The Secret Service is under siege for its incompetence. Why were communications such a shamble on this day? Who ran point? Has anyone been disciplined for this attempt on Trump’s life? It’s a circus, and while Kimberley Cheatle resigned as director, albeit not willingly, some other heads need to roll. The agency also got busted for lying: they finally admitted that requests for additional security for Trump were denied.
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The rooftop will remain a focal point, however, especially since there were police officers in the adjacent building. The agency knew there was a threat against the former president ten minutes before the rally began but allowed Trump to take the stage anyway. Secret Service snipers did have eyes on Crooks two minutes before he opened fire. The whole thing was a total disaster, and the lack of answers to simple questions about the obvious flaws only fueled conspiracy talks.