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Secret Service slammed for failing to prevent assassination attempt against Trump – LifeSite

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(LifeSiteNews) — Secret Service is blaming local law enforcement for not securing the rooftop where a 20-year-old tried to assassinate former President Donald Trump over the weekend.

But local law enforcement, and several experts who spoke to NBC News, said all responsibility for protecting the president ultimately lies with the Secret Service.

The agency is under widespread criticism for allowing a shooter, identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks, to have clear access to President Trump during his rally on Saturday in Pennsylvania. Crooks hit Trump’s right ear, but the president is reportedly in good condition.

It has been reported that Crooks was at one point a registered Republican but that he also made a $15 donation to Progressive Turnout Project, a left-wing Democratic Party-linked activist group, in 2021.

The rooftop “was identified by the Secret Service as a potential vulnerability in the days before the event, two sources familiar with the agency’s operations told NBC News,” the outlet reported last night.

“The Secret Service had designated that rooftop as being under the jurisdiction of local law enforcement, a common practice in securing outdoor rallies,” Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said, according to NBC News’ paraphrase.

The outlet reported:

The Secret Service worked with local law enforcement to maintain event security, including sniper teams poised on rooftops to identify and eliminate threats, Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said. But no officers were posted on the building used by the would-be assassin, outside the event’s security perimeter but only about 148 yards from the stage — within range of a semiautomatic rifle like the one the gunman was carrying.

Butler County District Attorney Richard Goldinger disagreed with the Secret Service’s assertion. “They had meetings in the week prior. The Secret Service ran the show. They were the ones who designated who did what,” he said, referring to the county’s law enforcement and its cooperation with the federal agency. “In the command hierarchy, they were top, they were No. 1.”
“Just because it is outside of the perimeter, it doesn’t take it out of play for a vulnerability, and you’ve got to mitigate it in some fashion,” a former Secret Service agent told NBC News, agreeing with the county’s assessment. “My question is: How did he get onto that roof undetected,” another former Secret Service agent told NBC News.

“I don’t like making any assumptions, but it does look like some mistakes were made, that this was preventable,” Anthony Cangelosi told NBC News.

Radio host and former Secret Service agent Dan Bongino also criticized his former employer.

“Secret Service Director Kim Cheatle should’ve already resigned,” Bongino wrote on X. “Inexcusable that this incompetent mess of a Director is still holding on, while protectees are in danger.”

Local law enforcement reportedly confronted the shooter on the roof but did not stop him after he pointed his gun at them. “A local law enforcement officer climbed to the roof and found Crooks, who pointed the rifle at the officer,” PBS reported. “The officer then retreated down the ladder, and the gunman quickly fired toward Trump, the officials said. That’s when U.S. Secret Service gunmen shot him, the officials said.”

The local sheriff’s office said the officer had to retreat because he could not grab his gun.

“Butler County Sheriff Michael T. Slupe said the officer was gripping the edge of the roof after climbing up using a ladder, and could not reach his gun when Crooks aimed at him,” The Telegraph reported. “He lets go because he doesn’t want to get killed,” Slupe said.

Officials identified Corey Comperatore as a fatal victim of the shooting. The firefighter died shielding his family from the gunfire.

Two other victims are in “stable condition,” the Pennsylvania State Police announced on Sunday.

Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas said that the Department of Homeland of Security will conduct a review of the assassination attempt and added that DHS is “engaged” with Trump and his campaign.

The FBI said it is investigating the attack as “domestic terrorism.”

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