Covered by: Chris Pandolfo and Brie Stimson
Thomas Matthew Crooks shot Trump with an AR-15-style rifle from a sniper position at a construction site about 130 yards from where Trump was speaking. He also killed bystander Corey Comperatore and seriously wounded two others in the failed assassination attempt before Secret Service counterattacks removed the threat.
Former Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned in the fallout from the near-murder. Her successor, Acting Director Ronald Rowe Jr. , testified before Senate lawmakers last week.
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Update incoming. . .
Coverage of this is over.
The US Secret Service is aware of the “delay” between the time James Copenhaver, seriously wounded in the shooting, took photographs of the shooter on the roof and the time the shots were fired, the acting director of the US Secret Service said. US Secret Service Ronald Rowe said in a news release on Friday. conference, reported John Roberts, co-anchor of “America Reports. “
“And his head above the roofline,” Roberts added, referring to the shooter.
“They are, John,” responded Fox News correspondent David Spunt, who spoke at Rowe’s press conference on Friday. “Two minutes and 52 seconds. They are aware of this. I just said this is part of the investigation, I won’t. “give something more.
Rowe said he would do so “because there is a need for accountability,” Spunt added.
Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe said Friday that the firm has yet to interview local law enforcement or local snipers stationed at former President Trump’s July 13 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
“We start with our federal and work,” he told a reporter when asked about the interviews. “If they agree to be questioned, we will request local authorities to question them that same day. “
Rowe also admitted that the Secret Service does not yet know the precise locations where local snipers were stationed before Trump shot in the ear, saying the assessment of their positions was based on Secret Service assessments.
(Photo via Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Acting US Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe said Friday that the company will use drones at upcoming events, after having one at former President Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13.
A video received exclusively through Fox News appears to show the gunman on a rooftop minutes before the shots rang out.
He added: “We are in the process of making those assets available. And, as you know, we’ve had greater visibility on some of those core concerns. We thought we could have covered it with a human eye. But it’s clear that we’re going to reposition our strategy now, and we’re going to take advantage of the generation and install those unmanned aerial systems.
A veteran US Secret Service agent who spoke to Fox News Digital on condition of anonymity to have the agency’s executives fired, calling them the “kings of the cover-up. “
“The 3 things we were missing at Butler were lack of communication, which is a leadership issue, lack of staffing, which is a leadership issue, and lack of use of technology, which is a leadership issue,” the agent said. .
The agent defended those who were on the floor at former President Trump’s ill-fated July 3 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, adding that “the other people who want to be fired are the ones in leadership positions. “
David Spunt and Timothy H. J. Fox News’ Nerozzi contributed to this report.
Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla. , who appointed a member of a task force on the shooting at Trump’s rally, told Fox News Digital that his resources at the United States Secret Service came up with the idea that the agency’s leaders didn’t need to “burn” their security budget. before the July 13 shooting.
Waltz said he said Trump had the overall policy goal for a former president, but that USSS leadership was reluctant to accept requests for greater protection for all of his campaign events as a primary candidate. ‘A party for re-election.
“From what agents tell me, he made the same main points as a former president, say, Jimmy Carter or [George W. Bush]. Well, he’s clearly not your average former president. And they tell me they’ve been missed. continually denied more resources.
He said the Secret Service would have gone to Congress if it needed more resources.
Fox News’ Elizabeth Elkind and Peter Petroff contributed to this report.
Jeff James, a retired United States Secret Service agent, called it “almost unthinkable” that the gunman could have accessed the roof while former President Trump was speaking at his July 13 rally.
“I don’t know which domino fell first in how that young man was able to get up there but him being able to get up there at that close of a proximity was just, I mean, almost unthinkable,” James told “America Reports” on Friday after U.S. Secret Service Acting Director Ronald Rowe held a news conference on the shooting.
But he reiterated what Rowe had said in the press, that the fact that the shooter could simply climb onto the roof was a “very egregious mistake. “
(Photo via Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
“You know, at our Pittsburgh box office, I don’t think anyone in the Secret Service feels that way more than the men and women at our Pittsburgh box office,” Rowe said after a reporter asked him about the office’s point of delight and enjoyed how he prepared for former President Trump’s July 13 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
“And I met them and they’re depressed right now. So when I met them the other day, it was very, very complicated. It’s complicated for them. They feel that they are letting their colleagues down. They feel that they have let the country down. And they’re dressed in this, and it’s open. You can see that. It’s an open wound they’re dealing with.
Acting Secret Service Director Rowe responded to an allegation through a whistleblower that he had ordered cuts to the Countersurveillance Division (CSD), which led to the risk assessment team not performing its normal duties before the demonstration in Butler, Pennsylvania.
“I know there have been accusations that I personally removed or rejected this request. The Countersurveillance Division has assisted the former president’s main points in some high-profile events. They continue to provide this assistance, and they are absent, we are offering assistance in the moment. So we will respond to the letter we received.
Rowe said that percentage of that reaction when he receives permission from lawmakers in Congress. He denied cutting investments in the CDD.
A member of former President Trump’s Secret Service contacted the Pittsburgh mailbox about reports of a suspicious user at the rally just as Thomas Crooks opened fire.
Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe told reporters that the guy who accompanied Trump in the room learned through a radio transmission that local authorities were investigating a suspicious user around 3 p. m. on July 13.
Former President Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, was the first time Secret Service countersnipers had been deployed alongside Trump since he left the White House in 2020, acting director Ronald Rowe said.
He said Trump had benefited from sniper coverage provided through state and local law enforcement in his previous crusades.
Going forward, Trump will take advantage of the sniper cover provided through the Secret Service, as will President Biden, Vice President Harris and the Republican vice presidential nominee, Sen. J. J. D. Vance, R-Ohio.
“We’re going to make sure we have all the resources we want to deal with any demanding situation we may face,” Rowe said.
Acting Director Ronald Rowe said the video received exclusively through Fox News Digital confirms that the shooting at former President Trump’s rally in Pennsylvania was a “failure” of the Secret Service.
“We deserve to have presented more policy to the person,” Rowe told reporters. “We deserve to have had more policy on this issue. We deserve to have had at least another set of eyes from the Secret Service perspective, covering this. This construction was very close to this outer perimeter. And we deserve to have had more policy, a presence. ” .
In the video taken at 6:08 p. m. on July 13, the user appears on the roof of the building adjacent to where Trump is speaking and can be seen walking from 1:00 a. m. to 1:00 a. m. until approximately 2:50 a. m.
The authorities’ shooter, 20-year-old Thomas Crooks, began firing with an AR-15-style folding rifle 3 minutes later, around 6:11 p. m. Crooks was shot dead by snipers shortly after, and law enforcement discovered 8 bullet casings near his body.
Copenhagen was not filming when he filmed, said his attorney, Joseph Feldman of Max C. Feldman. Feldman said Copenhagen stopped filming when everyone turned their heads to look at a projection screen.
Copenhaver was released from Allegheny General Hospital on July 26 but is still recovering at a rehabilitation facility, Feldman told Fox News Digital on Wednesday.
Fox News Digital’s Audrey Conklin contributed to this update.
The Secret Service will provide real-time updates on disciplinary actions taken against workers, such as the failed assassination attempt on former President Trump.
Acting Director Ronald Rowe told Fox News’ David Spunt that a review of mission assurances was underway to investigate whether there had been any policy violations before the July 13 shooting.
“These are internal investigations into employee-related matters, so we will not be providing you with any updates on this matter,” Rowe said. “But what I can tell you is that these are very thorough investigations. And if, in fact, there have been policy violations and they are substantiated, those workers will be held accountable. ”
Rowe said if disciplinary action were taken, he could inform the public that other people would be held responsible without going into details.
Acting Director Ronald Rowe began Friday’s news convention with an apology and an acknowledgment that the Secret Service bears full responsibility for the fatal shooting at Trump’s July 13 rally.
“The secret took full responsibility for the tragic events of July 13. This project was a failure. Our agency’s sole duty is to ensure that our protégés are never put in harm’s way. We failed to achieve that purpose at Butler, and I’m racing to make sure failure doesn’t happen again,” Rowe said.
“If policy violations through the Secret Service staffing become known during the agency’s project assurance review, Americans will be held accountable and will be held accountable for our fair and thorough disciplinary process,” Rowe said.
Tennessee Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn on Tuesday asked the new acting director of the Secret Service why the “public has lost confidence” in the agency’s “protective mission” after the July 13 assassination of former President Trump at his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Blackburn also read the last component of the email, received through Real Clear Politics reporter Susan Crabtree and purportedly sent inside the company via the countersniper, stating that the USSS’s “motto” is “CYA,” an acronym for “cover your a” –.
The Tennessee senator continued: “The public has lost confidence in the ability to execute the coverage mission, and I need to know what you think about the fact that workers at your company are concerned about covering their butts and protecting a old man”. “.
Fox News Digital’s Audrey Conklin contributed to this update.
Richard Goldinger is the latest official to question the testimony of acting United States Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe at a Senate hearing on the shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Goldinger, who coordinated the local snipers who took part in the July 13 rally, said they were assigned to a window with a different point of view than Rowe indicated in Tuesday’s testimony.
“Snipers from the Butler and Beaver ESU groups were stationed on the second construction site adjacent to where the shooter was and were stationed at the two windows toward the end of construction,” Goldinger said. “From their standpoint, they may just not see the shooter on the roof of the other construction. ”
“They were parked in a spot overlooking the roof,” he continued. “Observing this ceiling was not his mission. “
In his testimony Tuesday, Rowe appeared to blame local authorities for not seeing Crooks on the roof. He used exhibits from the site and showed the roof from which he shot Crooks, which, he said, showed that local snipers had a broader vantage point. The shooting position of criminals than Secret Service snipers.
Reacting to Goldinger’s comments, a Secret Service spokesperson recalled Rowe’s testimony and said the firm coordinated with the Butler County Emergency Services Unit, which was the site’s “tactical lead. “
Fox News Digital’s Christina Coulter and Fox News’ CB Cotton contributed to this update.
The video that Copenhagen shared exclusively with Fox News Digital taken at 6:08 p. m. on July 13, minutes before Crooks fired at least 8 shots at 6:11 a. m. before the counter-snipers killed him.
“The Secret Service is committed to gaining a greater understanding of what occurred before and after the assassination attempt on former President Trump to ensure this does not happen again,” the firm told Fox News in a statement. “This includes full cooperation. ” with Congress, the FBI and other applicable investigations.
The FBI told Fox News it was aware of the video but had no further comment.
A new poll has found that a majority of Americans don’t believe the Secret Service will protect presidential candidates from violence following the shooting at Trump’s rally in Pennsylvania three weeks ago.
The poll conducted by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that only about three-in-ten Americans are very or very confident in themselves in the Secret Service’s ability to deal with presidential candidates ahead of the November election.
Six in 10 Democrats believe there is a big responsibility for gun availability, compared to about a third of independents and 15% of Republicans. About a share of Republicans have a lot of responsibility for the Secret Service, compared with about four in 10 Democrats and independents.
Overall, about seven in ten Americans in the Secret Service bear at least a moderate amount of responsibility for the assassination attempt, while some local American law enforcement in Pennsylvania bears some responsibility. at least a moderate job, according to the survey.
Only about one-third of Americans say they are incredibly or very confident in the ability of the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the Secret Service, to conduct a full and fair investigation into Trump’s assassination attempt.
Sen. Josh Hawley released a report on Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe Jr. ‘s alleged involvement in organizing Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13 (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images). )
The senator’s report comes after lawmakers questioned business leaders about developing security at the rally in Pennsylvania, where former President Trump narrowly escaped being killed.
“This is important because the CSD’s tasks are to assess potential security threats outside the security perimeter and mitigate those threats in the event,” Hawley wrote in a letter to Rowe on Thursday.
The extra whistleblower claimed that if the CSD had fulfilled its duties, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks “would have been handcuffed in the parking lot. “
“The complainant claims that if CSD personnel had been present at the demonstration, the shooter would have been handcuffed in the parking lot after being caught with a rangefinder,” Hawley wrote to Rowe. “You stated in your Senate testimony that the American Glass Research complex has been included in the Butler event security perimeter. “
In an interview with Fox News Digital, Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said they would respond to Hawley’s requests.
“We respect the senator and his oversight role and will respond to requests from official channels,” Guglielmi said.
Fox News Digital’s Sarah Rumpf-Whitten contributed to this update.
Acting Director Ronald Rowe Jr. will speak about a timeline of events and answer questions from reporters as his firm faces developing complaints about security lapses at Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, that preceded the shooting.
“This is a failure of the Secret Service,” Rowe told lawmakers on the Senate Judiciary, Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committees at a joint hearing this week.
He claimed that the roof of the AGR building, near where Trump spoke, had an enhanced security policy and promised to thoroughly investigate whether policy violations led to a security breach at the rally.
The live starts here.