Update: Senator Chuck Grassley released the bodycam footage from the Beaver County Emergency Services Unit that responded to the attempted assassination of former President Trump at his Pennsylvania rally on July 13th.
The footage revealed local law enforcement snipers saw Thomas Crooks earlier before the shooting occurred and even sent pictures of him to the Secret Service.
“Beaver County sn*pers saw him and sent the pictures out. This is him.”
JUST IN: Bodycam footage released by Senator Chuck Grassley from the Trump Pennsylvania rally on July 13th.
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) July 23, 2024
The video was obtained from the Beaver County Emergency Services Unit.
In the footage, the men were discussing how they had noticed Thomas Crooks earlier before the… pic.twitter.com/KQErF69xk5
Earlier:
CALEB MCCULLOUGH
Quad City Times, Davenport, Iowa
(TNS)
July 17 – Iowa U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley is calling on the Secret Service and other federal agencies to release information about the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump on Saturday at a rally in Pennsylvania.
Grassley, a Republican who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee, sent a letter to the Department of Homeland Security and the Secret Service asking which protocols were followed and how authorities allowed a gunman to climb onto a roof less than 500 feet from the former president.
“At this time, the lack of information from your agencies is unacceptable,” Grassley wrote in the letter, dated July 16. “You owe Congress and the American people full and complete transparency on how this tragedy could possibly occur.”
Grassley-120523
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, asks questions of FBI Director Christopher Wray during a Senate Judiciary Committee oversight hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington on Dec. 5.
Leaders of the FBI and the Secret Service planned to brief members of Congress in a private meeting on Wednesday to update them on the investigation amid questions over the security practices that preceded the deadly attack.
The DHS Office of Inspector General announced on Wednesday it had begun an investigation of the events surrounding the assassination attempt.
In a brief description of the project, the agency said it would “evaluate the United States Secret Service’s (Secret Service) process for securing former President Trump’s July 13, 2024, campaign event.”
According to law enforcement, Thomas Matthew Crooks, a 20-year-old resident of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, crawled onto the roof of a building near Trump’s rally and opened fire during his speech Saturday. While Trump survived the attack with an injury to his ear, one rally attendee was killed and two were critically injured. The shooter was killed by the Secret Service.
Election 2024-Republican Convention Security
U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle speaks Friday during a Republican National Convention security news conference in Milwaukee.
Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle has since said that there were local police inside the building who were responsible for its security. Rally attendees have said in the aftermath they had tried to alert police of the presence of the shooter shortly before he fired.
In his letter to Cheatle and DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Grassley pointed to past security lapses by the Secret Service, including in 2014 when a man jumped the White House fence and entered the building before being stopped by security officers.
Grassley asked if action had been taken based on recommendations made in response to those incidents and how often the agency had reviewed and practiced its security protocols.
“As USSS stated in its most recent Secret Service Annual report, there ‘is little margin for error in the Secret Service mission,’” Grassley wrote. “The USSS must provide a complete and thorough accounting to the American people to assure them that the Secret Service is correcting its past problems and is fully and effectively carrying out its core mission: protection.”
Grassley letter to DHS
Grassley asked the agency to turn over records between the Secret Service and other law enforcement related to the rally, including security plans and any knowledge of threats before the rally.
He also asked for details on the agency’s protocols for presidential events, training of agents who were present, and whether the agency knew about Crooks prior to the shooting.
Grassley wrote a separate letter, also on Tuesday, to FBI Director Christopher Wray and U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland asking the departments to provide rolling updates on their investigation.
Election 2024 Trump
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump gestures as he is surrounded by U.S. Secret Service agents as he leaves the stage at a campaign rally, Saturday, July 13, 2024, in Butler, Pa.
Grassley asked for all records between the FBI and other law enforcement related to the rally and if the FBI had been aware of any threat to Trump before the rally. He also asked if the FBI was aware of the gunman’s identity before July 13.
“As I stated to DHS and the USSS, you owe Congress and the American people full and complete transparency in this matter,” he wrote.
Grassley also joined Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee this week in asking committee Chair Dick Durbin, D-Ill., to call Cheatle, Mayorkas and Wray to testify before the committee.
Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana said Wednesday he will create a special House task force to investigate the shooting, which he said he will set up once Congress returns from recess on Monday. Also on Wednesday, House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chair James Comer issued a subpoena compelling Cheatle to appear before the committee on Monday.
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Photos: Trump injured, 2 killed in shooting at rally
Donald Trump appeared to be the target of an assassination attempt as he spoke during a rally in Pennsylvania, law enforcement officials said.
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