Choose One: Law Enforcement at Trump Shooting Was Either Incompetent or Complicit

.

Within minutes of the July 13 attempted assassination of Donald Trump, observers were asking how the assassin managed to gain a clear shot of Donald Trump at the Butler Farm Show Grounds near Butler, Pennsylvania.

Since then, the question remains unanswered, but many allegations about the shooting have emerged.

For example, multiple sources plausibly contend, both local police and the Secret Service had spotted the armed shooter—on a nearby roof with a rangefinder and a gun and a ladder—several minutes before the shooting occurred.

Law enforcement officers and agents chose to do nothing.

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/25-minutes-secret-service-comma...

.

.

.

Videos of the event show bystanders vocally warning both police and federal agents of the shooter’s presence.

Again, law enforcement did nothing. 

The New York Post reports that a “counter sniper team” staffed by local law enforcement were actually inside the building below the shooter himself.

Again, law enforcement officials did not control access to this roof which offered an ideal position for a potential assassin. 

.

New information continues to flow in, but virtually all of it forces us to one of two conclusions: the police officers and federal agents at the Butler rally were either (1) disastrously incompetent or (2) complicit in the assassination attempt. 

.

Unfortunately, it is difficult to determine the truth of the matter, given how little information we have right now.

Certainly, the Secret Service (USSS) will not be providing any honest assessment of the situation.

Local police will close ranks to protect themselves and their jobs—as is standard practice.

We can expect investigations to go on for years with law enforcement officials stonewalling Congress every step of the way.

Moreover, FBI agents will likely be called in to conduct much of the investigation, and we know how that will go.

As Thomas Massie wrote a few hours after the shooting, the FBI is “The same bureau that investigated the Las Vegas shooting and the January 6th pipe bombs, is now investigating the attempted assassination of Trump. ...This is also the same bureau that raided Mar-a-Lago. ... I’m sure they’ll get to the bottom of this soon.”
.

Option 1: Law Enforcement Was Complicit in the Assassination Attempt

.

Local law enforcement—namely, the Pennsylvania State Police—and the USSS were partners to screen the area for weapons and for potential areas from which an assassin might operate.

Clearly, neither of these agencies performed these tasks properly.

The Secret Service’s failure is especially damning given that the agency’s primary mission—apart from investigating counterfeiters—is to protect their assigned subjects from assassination.

.

So, was the USSS intentionally “forgetful/incompetent” when it came to securing the area?

Was the slowness of the USSS’s agents in confronting the shooter part of a conspiracy to “allow” the assassin access to Trump?

At this point, one can only guess, but we do know there are many reasons to suspect the idea.

After all, the Secret Service is your typical federal agency, and its members are your typical federal bureaucrats who do quite well for themselves under the status quo.

They have every reason to oppose any political figure who is seen—rightly or wrongly—as one who threatens the current establishment in any way.

After all, it became abundantly clear during the Trump years,  FBI agents had no qualms about illegally spying on Trump. 

FBI agents also cooked up the narrative of “Russian collusion” in an effort to cripple the Trump administration. 

.

It’s easy to see why federal agents would be opposed to a Trump presidency.

Federal agents enjoy large salaries, high levels of prestige, and the promise of a long, cushy, well-funded retirement—all paid for by taxpayers.

There’s good reason for USSS agents to actively oppose any candidate seen as a significant threat to the status quo.

Moreover, federal agents handling presidential security are part of the Washington, DC culture. They are, to use modern parlance, “swamp creatures.” 

.

Yet, one might question the “complicity” charge on the grounds that it would be exceptionally difficult to keep an assassination conspiracy quiet among any sizable number of law enforcement agents.

That’s true enough, but in this case, it would only be necessary for those in positions of leadership to be part of the conspiracy. 

The conspirators would only need to ensure complacency and a reluctance to speak up among the rank and file.

.

This is not hard to achieve. The conspirators—assuming they are in positions of leadership—could simply ensure that the event is understaffed or staffed with less-experienced agents, who rely on more direction from above.

Then, the conspirators need only issue orders to stand down at critical times, and to hem and haw long enough to allow “the plan” to play out. 

.

Moreover, experience has shown that law enforcement officials are not ones to speak up against the powers that be.

Federal agents in this case would be shielded from prosecution by a friendly US Justice Department.

Meanwhile, local police are largely bought and paid for by the Department of Homeland Security which funnels billions to state and municipal police departments. 

.

We should not expect much at all in the way of whistleblowing or critical thinking from any state law enforcement personnel, or from any lower-ranking USSS agents.

Recent years have made it abundantly clear, state and local police are far more concerned with keeping their jobs and pensions, than with opposing even the most blatantly immoral or unconstitutional assaults on the people. 

.

After all, how many police officers resigned in protest during the covid lockdowns?

During that period, police were tasked with closing churches, arresting churchgoers, and closing down private businesses for the “offense” of peacefully assembling, or engaging in commerce.

Police arrested mothers who visited playgrounds closed for fear of a virus.

Police beat up ordinary people who didn’t wear masks. 

.

Through it all, we heard only a tiny number of police voices protesting these assaults on the Bill of Rights.

It is apparent that most police officers were willing to carry out virtually any order from their government masters. 

So, it would be pure naivete to think that any local law enforcement officers would oppose any of the USSS’s questionable orders that might have come down on July 13.

In other words, USSS officials were free to do whatever they wanted. 

.

Option 2: Law Enforcement Officers Were Incompetent 

.

The other option is, the USSS and local police really are just incompetent.

Laziness, or a reluctance to act, of course, is a type of incompetence, and it is entirely possible that the unguarded roofs, the lack of concern about the assassin’s rangefinder, and the general slowness of response were all motivated by mere laziness.

Of course, it is also possible, law enforcement was not lazy so much as it was simply too ignorant to even know the correct way to control access to the president during the rally. 

.

The “incompetence” narrative rose to near-comical levels on Tuesday when USSS director Kimberly Cheatle claimed, the rooftop on which the shooter perched was left unguarded, because the roof was too dangerous for agents. 

.

As Cheatle put it, “That building in particular has a sloped roof ... so, there’s a safety factor that would be considered there that we wouldn’t want to put somebody up on a sloped roof.

And so, the decision was made to secure the building, from inside.” (According to the New York Post, it was local police who were responsible for securing the building.)

The sloped-roof canard is total nonsense, according to evidence from multiple videos.

.

Clearly, the building was not secured from “inside” or anywhere else, and it is laughable that the USSS would think this explanation about a dangerously sloped roof would deflect criticism of the agency. 

.

But, what if Cheatle is telling the truth? What if the decision to leave the roof unguarded was simply a byproduct of incompetence on the part of the USSS and local police?

This would certainly jibe with the dogma of “officer safety” that is so prevalent among law enforcement agencies nowadays.

After all, we saw this philosophy at work at the school shootings at Uvalde and Parkland. In both cases, police elected to run away and hide rather than confront a shooter, who was systematically slaughtering children. Police looked to their own safety first.

. 

It’s not beyond belief that USSS brass might decide that it would be overkill to put personnel on every roof, especially when it’s hot and uncomfortable and potentially dangerous up there.

It would not be the first time law enforcement officials substituted safety and ease—for themselves—in place of public service.

.

“Mistakes Were Made”

.

For obvious reasons, the USSS itself has decided that the “incompetence” narrative is preferable to the “complicity” narrative.

We can expect law enforcement officials to die on the “incompetence” sword, since to admit complicity would rock the foundations of the regime’s legitimacy.

Thus, claims about the “slopey roof,” although humiliating, will be offered as evidence that the USSS and local police “did their best” but failed.

In other words, we will hear that “mistakes were made,” but it won’t happen again. 

.

This is complicated by the fact that law enforcement officials cannot claim, no one was seriously hurt in the assassination attempt.

Spectator Corey Comperatore was killed, and two others were critically injured.

Federal and Pennsylvania law enforcement officers are to blame for allowing that to happen. 

.

But don’t expect any heads to roll.

Indeed, if this story follows the usual narrative that accompanies federal screw-ups, we can expect higher budgets for the agencies that fell down on the job. 

.

After 9/11, for example, the CIA and FBI, who utterly failed in their jobs that day, received more taxpayer money as a result.

No one lost their jobs, and there was no accountability.

With the possible exception of Cheatle herself, it’s extremely unlikely that anyone at the USSS, or the Pennsylvania state police, will face an official reprimand. 

After more than a week of refusing to resign, Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned on July 23 after a tough round of testimony about the event in Congress.

.

ADDITION

.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/14/politics/timeline-trump-rally-shooti...

.

.

Butler County voted overwhelmingly for Trump in 2020, so the crowd was expected to be as friendly as you'd find in the country. 

But things took a sudden, deadly turn minutes after the former president and presumptive Republican nominee began speaking. 

Here's a timeline of attempted assassination of Trump, as new details are learned from the investigation:

.

5:51 Secret Service is notified of suspicious person, with rangefinder, by Pennsylvania State Police 

5:52 Secret Service shares information about suspicious person with counter sniper team and response agents, but not with local law enforcement 

6:03 Trump takes the stage, began speaking

6:08:30 Someone is seen on the roof running into position just 3 minutes before shots rang out (while Trump was speaking). It is easy to see a head moving above the roof's ridge line. Video shot by James Copenhaver, a victim, who was shot twice, released from the hospital after 2 weeks, currently in rehab.

6:09 People alert officers of the gunman

6:11:21 - 6:11:32 An officer walks around the building; people spot the shooter and start to flee 

6:11:33 Trump stops speaking. Hand twitches, per NYT video. Shockwave of Shot 1 passes mic near Trump

6:11:34 Trump reaches for his ear, looks at hand, sees blood, starts ducking

6:11:35 Three shots fired: 0.18, hit Trump + 0.857, missed + 0.678, missed = 1.715 second, after squeezing trigger

6:11:35-36 Trump is ducking. Secret Service agents start to surround Trump

6:11:36 Five closely spaced shots are fired within 0.769 second!

6:11:50 SS sniper on roof behind Trump kills Crooks with Shot 10, 15.794 seconds after Shot 1

Why the long wait?

6:15 Trump leaves rally site

.

SHOT SEQUENCE

Missing means not registered by mic near Trump

Shock wave of Bullet 6 absorbed by Comperatore's head?

.

Shot	After Shot 1	Delta T
1, Trump	0.000
2	0.857	0.857
3	1.535	0.678
.
4	4.318	2.783
5	4.574	0.256
6, Missing; Comperatore?	4.754	0.180
7	4.938	0.184
8	5.087	0.149
.
9, Missing; ESU?
10, Missing; SS sniper	15.794

.

PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS; THERE WERE FOUR SHOOTERS

.

The perimeter of Secret Service protection zone excluded the building where Crooks was lying on the roof, with a direct line of fire to Trump, and several nearby buildings, with windows, also with a direct line of fire to Trump.

Forensic acoustic analysis suggests, as many as four weapons were fired at the Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on Saturday.

The FBI said Sunday that the shooter acted alone.

After just one day, the FBI declaration was made without having all the evidence.

It gives a signal to the Mass Media to "go with that story".

The local police chief said, he was told by the FBI, 8 cartridges were found near Crook's body.
There is no independent confirmation of that FBI declaration.

No one has seen the cartridges.

The FBI made that declaration to advance its preferred “lone shooter” scenario

A cartridge consists  of a bullet, casing, gunpowder and ignitor.
Casings are automatically ejected from a rifle after firing.

CNN REPORT DISAGREES WITH THE FBI

All of the Media at the event have sound systems.

CNN sent its recorded audio file to an sound consultant in Colorado

Acoustic analysis shows TWO weapons: weapon A fired the first 3 shots, weapon B fired the next 5 shots.

But there were a total of 10 shots.

Shot 9 likely was by an unknown police sniper trying to shoot Crook. He missed. Why take only one shot?

Shot 10 was by the Secret Service sniper on the roof behind Trump.

Report of CNN's Sound Consultant:

https://news.rediff.com/commentary/2024/jul/15/forensics-say-as-man...

The first three shots were consistent with alleged weapon A, the next five were consistent with alleged weapon B, and the final "acoustic impulse" was emitted by a possible weapon C, per audio analysis by Catalin Grigoras, director of the National Center for Media Forensics at the University of Colorado in Denver, and Cole Whitecotton, Senior Professional Research Associate at the same institution.

Audio analysis has also confirmed, the gunman was about 360 to 393 feet from the podium, according to forensics expert Robert Maher, who teaches audio forensics at Montana State University.

This conclusion aligns with CNN's analysis that the gunman was on a rooftop 393 to 492 feet from the podium when shots rang out.

The shots exemplify a "crack-pop" sequence, typical when a supersonic bullet passes a microphone, before the "arrival of the corresponding muzzle sound," Maher told CNN.

The time between these markers places the shooter 110 to 120 meters from the microphone, Maher said, assuming the bullet is moving at an average speed of 800 to 1,000 meters per second, the equivalent of 2,600 to 3,280 feet per second.

.

THE FIRST THREE SHOTS

The first three shots sound muffled and have no echos, i.e., they were fired inside a building, not fired by Crooks

The New York Post had reported, a “counter sniper team”, staffed by local law enforcement, were actually inside the building below the shooter (Crooks) on its roof.

The acoustic signature shows Shots 1, 2, and 3 appear to be fired by a sniper through an open window below and to the right of Crook

Shot 1 has a much weaker sound profile than Shots 2 and 3, as if from two different weapons

.
The “lone shooter” declaration by the FBI is a cover-up, because the FBI also has the acoustic signature and the experts to analyze it, as does CNN; its consultant in Colorado; Professor Maher at Montana State University; the New York Times, etc.

.

These three shots had an upward trajectory, from the bottom of the window, to Trump’s ear, then onwards

.

The bullet of Shot 1, with its supersonic shockwave, arrived at a mic near Trump in about 0.18 second after trigger squeeze; all pros squeeze triggers, not pull, to stay on target.

The much slower muzzle sound took another 0.22 second to arrive at that mic

Total sound travel time 0.40 second, i.e., about 0.4 x 1203.6 f/s = 480 ft to the target

Shot 2 was fired 0.857 second after Shot 1

Shot 3, was fired 0.678 second after Shot 2

.

Trump had tilted his head to look at a chart, felt the impact of Shot 1 on his right ear, quickly raised his hand to his ear, looked at the blood, and ducked, all within about 3 seconds, which caused Shot 2 and 3 to miss him.

Secret Service people surrounded Trump within about 5 - 7 seconds, and held him down for about 20 seconds, until the "all-clear" was given.

.

NOTE: As part of its continuing disinformation campaign, and guidance for Media messaging, director Wray of the FBI claimed, under oath, Trump was hit by a piece of shrapnel, not a bullet, and the Media ran with it like pack of bloodhounds.

After a public outcry, including by medical doctors, on July 26, Wray corrected his sworn testimony to state, it was a bullet that hit Trump’s ear.

NOTE: However, on July 26, the NYT , on its front page, debunked the FBI shrapnel nonsense, by super-imposing the the shockwave sound of Shot 1, and a video of the flinch of Trump’s hand, then Shot 2, then Shot 3. 
Trump had moved just a little more (but not yet ducked), as is clearly shown on the video, but it was enough for Shots 2 and 3 to miss him.

Elapsed time from trigger squeeze about 0.18

The shooter had expected to see the back of Trump's head explode

The shooter looked after Shot 1, saw he missed, then took Shot 2 and 3. 

.

THE NEXT FIVE SHOTS

Shots 4 through 8 were extremely close-spaced.

Those shots sounded entirely different from the first three shots

According to the acoustic time line, all five shots took place with in 0.769 second.

Such rapid firing by one shooter, and staying on a target, at about 480 ft, is impossible.

The impacts of those five shots likely were spread out. Likely from more than one shooter

.

One or more of these 5 shots may be from Crooks

One or more of these 5 shots may have killed one person and wounded two others

The supersonic shockwaves and bullets arrived at the mic near Trump while he started ducking, but the Secret Service had not yet covered him.
.

The spectra of closely paced Shots 4, 5, 6 and 7 partially overlap, but of Shot 1 and 8 are not overlapped

Spectral and audio signature analysis shows, Shot 8 is different from Shot 1

.

Shot 9 likely was by a police sniper trying to shoot Crooks. He missed. Why take only one shot? 

Crooks had a few seconds, but did not rise, hands up, to surrender

Shot 10 was by the highly visible Secret Service sniper on the roof behind Trump about 15.8 second after Shot 1; the bullet entered just above Crook's left eyebrow.

.

Shot 1, 2 and 3 are quantitatively and qualitatively different from Shots 4 - 8, based on spectral analysis

They sound different and look different.

.

A skull contains brain matter, plus about a gallon of blood.

The shockwave typically blows the back part of a skull in pieces, with blood, etc., over a large area of the roof.

A nearby bystander mentioned, in a video interview: "they blew his head off"  

A photo shows the body, some blood on Crooks' face, a trail of blood down the roof.

A video showed, an FBI person hosing down the roof.

.

Why did it take an eternity for the SS sniper to fire after Shot 1?

Was he told not to fire, until given the go-ahead?

Did he know more shots would be coming?

Was he told to wait for more shots?

Media microphones usually are high quality. They are not as good as those used for acoustics analysis/vibration testing systems, which usually have specialized mics, amplifiers and filters to separate sounds and frequencies on the time line, plus there are almost no background noises during such tests

The first 3 shots are evenly spaced, have very distinct "crack-pops", are easy to analyze, sound muffled, have no echos;, i.e., they are from inside a building

The next 5 shots are closely spaced. Separating them by stretching the time line, likely will not reveal much info

Spectral analysis shows, the first 3 shots are significantly difference from the next 5 shots.

PhD Chris Martinson, and others, are well aware of the limits of the acoustic data.

.

A botched hit with more than one shooter. You can watch it Full Screen on X

Chris Martinson has updated follow-up analyses and videos which you can also view on X.

.

See Comment 4

NOTE: Police body cameras state, there was a sniper in the building below Crook who had taken photos of Crook, while he was walking and looking around, and (in a police video) someone asked if a drone was available to "clear the water tower", which had another sniper, according to onlookers.
Senator Grassley had demanded the body camera videos, as part of the House investigation.

.

COMMENT 1

.

Local law enforcement first spotted Crooks near a magnetometer with a range finder around 3 p.m. — about three hours before Trump spoke — but then was lost track of

Despite local law enforcement officers reportedly spotting Crooks about an hour before Trump was to speak — hanging around outside the building, and then seen scoping the rooftop, returning with a backpack and pulling out a range finder — and reporting him to a command center, he was not stopped and questioned.

Secret Service reportedly spotted Crooks at 5:52 p.m. on the rooftop — about 20 minutes before Trump took the stage — but did not stop Trump from taking the stage

Trump took the stage at 6:02 p.m., but nothing was done to get him off the stage for 10 minutes, until Crooks was able to fire at him at 6:12 p.m.

COMMENT 2

Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle.

Is she just another incompetent government DEI hire? Well in a word…YES. But it’s more than that. Because no one is this dumb. 

When it’s this obvious, it’s a scam.

Look at the storyline of the Trump almost-assassination. It’s just impossible anyone, or even any government employee, or even any government agency, could be this stupid, careless, reckless and incompetent.

The assassin walked around for over an hour as a “person of interest.” And no one did anything.

He had a golf range finder in his hand. And no one did anything.

He was spotted with a rifle and a backpack. But still, no one did anything.

He was carrying a 5-ft ladder and climbing onto a roof. And no one did anything.

The roof he used to try to murder President Trump had a perfect, clear sightline to the target.

The Secret Service never thought to secure that roof? Was it left unsecured for a reason?

Trump rally attendees were screaming at police and pointing to the assassin on the roof- and still, no one did anything.

While the assassin was climbing onto the roof and lying on the roof for 30 minutes, the Secret Service spotted Crooks at 5:52 pm, 20 minutes before Trump took the stage at 6:12 pm

At least one Secret Service sniper team on the second floor of an adjacent building, next to Crooks, had the same line of sight as Crooks, through an open window

Two Secret Service sniper teams, on a roof behind Trump, were looking right at Crooks in their gun scopes, but waited until AFTER 8 bullets had been fired at Trump and the stands behind him, before one of them fired at and killed Crooks. Wouldn’t you say that’s a little too late?

The Secret Service now admits they were aware of an assassination threat for 20 minutes before Trump took the stage. So why did they allow Trump to take the stage to be vulnerable?

The Secret Service Director Cheatle actually gave the worst excuse for not securing that roof - she actually said out loud: "The roof was sloped, so she didn’t want to put Secret Service agents in danger."

Is it possible she is that dumb?

The Secret Service had no drones overhead to identify threats to President Trump?

Team Trump had requested more manpower to protect President Trump on multiple occasions. The Secret Service Director rejected all of those requests.

The former and future President of the United States was not given a “full protection package.” Think about that.

At the same exact time as Trump’s event, First Lady Jill Biden decided to add a last-minute event in the same state. So, it just so happened that even more manpower was diverted away from President Trump. And several of Trump’s regular agents were re-deployed to the First Lady’s event-leaving Trump with inexperienced newcomers;

One of them, first day on the job, could not put her gun back in its holster, on video.

.

President Trump was invited to speak on Saturday July 13th at the FreedomFest Conference in Las Vegas.

His staff politely turned me down, because they reported President Trump already had an event planned for that day in Butler, Pennsylvania. I knew that a month ago. I have the letter from President Trump’s top staff.

So, why was a last-minute new event added to Jill Biden’s schedule- at the exact same time as Trump’s long planned event? That’s highly unusual and suspect.

All of this happened against the backdrop of the Secret Service knowing there was a legitimate Iranian terrorist threat against President Trump.

So, why leave Trump with an insufficient and less experienced protection team?

Kimberly Cheatle was a DEI hire, recommended by Jill.

Since when are the wives of Presidents involved with hiring heads of the Secret Service?

As a matter of fact, guess what story is missing in the media? I haven’t seen a word about this.

.

On May 20th Bloomberg News ran a story about the highly unusual situation of a petition signed openly by many members of the Secret Service demanding Kimberly Cheatle be fired, because she is obsessed with DEI, and therefore putting lives at risk.

That was less than 60 days before President Trump came ¼ inch away from death.

Why is the media ignoring this story?

This is either the case of the worst government DEI incompetence, recklessness, carelessness and stupidity in history.

Or maybe a combination of both.

But, thank God, a miracle happened that changed the course of history.

God intervened and moved Trump’s head at the last second.

COMMENT 3

It looks like the situation was as follows:

It was well over 80 F when Trump was speaking

Trump wore no tie
The assassin was on the roof,

According reports, the Secret Service and local cops knew about the assassin for about three hours

The assassin’ father had called the local police: "my son and my gun are missing!"

The Secret Service knew the assassin was carrying a rangefinder, a standard item carried by hunters.

The local cops did not want to be on the hot metal roof, which had a very shallow 10% slope

They were going to collect an overtime paycheck for performing special guard duty; standard procedure!

They stayed inside the building where it was nice and cool, and out of harms way

It is likely, they were not all that interested in security and snipers, or physical exertion, or taking risks.

The likely thought: "let the Secret Service deal with it."

COMMENT 4

Police Bodycam Footage of Secret Service Responding to Trump Shooter on Roof Released; Snipers Took Photos of Crooks Before Shooting; Drone Sent to Water Tower 

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/07/police-bodycam-footage-sec...

By Anthony Scott Jul. 23, 2024