Donald Trump stated that he was not alerted by the Secret Service about gunman Thomas Crooks prior to the assassination attempt at a Pennsylvania rally.
On Saturday, Donald Trump disclosed that the Secret Service did not warn him about the gunman who shot him at a rally in Pennsylvania last weekend, even though agents had been monitoring the suspect for hours before the incident.
“Nobody mentioned it,” Trump, 78, told Jesse Watters in an upcoming episode of the Fox News’ show adding, “Nobody said it was a problem. [They] could’ve said, ‘Let’s wait for 15, 20 minutes, 5 minutes.’ Nobody said…I think that was a mistake.”
Police observed Crooks on the building 26 minutes before he opened fire and were alerted by frantic witnesses, yet did not take action.
The Secret Service did not respond until after Crooks had fired up to seven shots at Trump, grazing his ear and killing one audience member. “How did somebody get on that roof?” Trump questioned in his interview. “And why wasn’t he reported, because people saw he was on that roof.”
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Trump added, “When you have Trumpers screaming, the woman in the red shirt, ‘There’s a man on the roof,’ and other people, ‘There’s a man on the roof and who’s got a gun’ … that was quite a bit before I walked on the stage. And I would’ve thought someone would’ve done something about it.”
Gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks initially raised concerns when he entered the security screening area carrying a rangefinder, a tool used by hunters and target shooters to gauge distances, three hours before the shooting.
An officer noticed Crooks using the rangefinder and checking his phone nearly an hour before Trump was set to speak. He was reported again just minutes before the attack. Two officers observed him on the roof and took photos of him, but these alerts either went unaddressed or were not received in time to prevent the incident.
The Secret Service has faced severe criticism for not stopping Crooks before he targeted the former president, with Director Kimberly Cheatle under increasing scrutiny and calls for resignation.
According to sources who spoke to The Post, high-ranking Secret Service officials consistently denied Trump’s requests for additional security in the two years leading up to the attempt. Consequently, Trump’s personal security team had to rely on local resources for the Pennsylvania event after the Secret Service headquarters denied requests for extra personnel, equipment, and technology.
Following the incident, Trump’s security has been enhanced to match that of President Biden. Watters’ interview with Trump, which will include his running mate, Ohio Senator JD Vance, is set to air on July 22 at 8 p.m.
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