Three law enforcement officers were stationed inside the building where a gunman shot former President Donald Trump at a Pennsylvania rally Saturday.
Two days after the failed assassination attempt, BeaverCountian.com reported that an officer confirmed “there were three counter-snipers” stationed underneath the same roof where the assailant blew off part of President Trump’s right ear. Officers notified the “command center” about the threat before the gunman fatally shot a rallygoer and injured three others, including the Republican presidential nominee.
“A Beaver County police officer warned a command center of seeing a man with a rangefinder before former President Donald Trump was shot on Saturday,” reported the website. “The officer had also warned the man was scoping out the roof of the building he was stationed in as a counter-sniper, and that the man returned with a backpack before ultimately scaling the building.”
According to CBS, law enforcement even took a picture of him before the gunfire.
“Contrary to reports in national news outlets, officers say the building just outside the security perimeter established by Secret Service was in fact occupied by law enforcement,” added BeaverCountian.com.
Federalist CEO Sean Davis summed up the situation on X: “Who gave the order to do nothing until after the assassin shot Trump, killed an innocent man on that stage, and fired round after round after round after round?”
But the security failures even go deeper. According to NBC News, the Secret Service was made aware of the unique threat presented by the building “days” before the Pennsylvania rally. Yet the building wasn’t included in the official security perimeter.
“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,” said NBC.
Local police resources were reportedly dedicated to securing outside the Secret Service perimeter. As RealClearPolitics’ Susan Crabtree posted on X:
[M]y understanding is that the officers inside the building were local law enforcement, which begs the question of why this building was outside of the Secret Service’s official perimeter that they were responsible for manning. My sources in the Secret Service community tell me the agency was relying too heavily on local law enforcement and even “temps,” not regular agents/officers assigned to Trump’s detail because the regular detail was overworked. I’m told that not even a handful of the agents were regularly assigned to Trump. Special Agent in Charge Curran was one of the only (if not The ONLY) regular members of Trump’s permanent detail.
While Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle said the former president’s team had not requested extra security, a source told The Federalist that Trump’s security detail had requested more protection and resources, but the Biden administration’s Department of Homeland Security denied it.
Cheatle said Monday, however, that she would not step down.
The Secret Service’s latest failure instantly became one of worst agency scandals in American history, with the former and potential next president coming within millimeters of a brutal execution on live television. A split-second tilt of Trump’s head saved the former president’s life, with the bullet grazing his ear instead of going through his brain. The ex-commander-in-chief met the near-death experience with a defiant fist bump and a call to “fight.” The Wall Street Journal chronicled the saga in a short documentary video here.
Trump made his first public appearance since the shooting at the Republican National Convention (RNC) Monday night, hours after tapping Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio for the vice presidential nomination. With a bandaged right ear, the former president entered the convention arena in Milwaukee to patriotic music.
Chants broke out of “Fight! Fight! Fight!” after Trump walked out to the song “God Bless the USA.”
