Following the Secret Service’s claim that local police were mandated to secure the building and rooftop used by the 20-year-old shooter who attempted to assassinate former President Donald Trump on Saturday, the head of the Fraternal Order of Police launched a scathing critique of the federal protective service.
The group’s president, Patrick Yoes, also stated that the primary function of the Secret Service is to protect Trump wherever he is, including the venue in Butler, Pa., where he was nearly killed. He made his remarks following Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle doubling down on her previous claim that local cops were in charge of securing the building and ostensibly the rooftop ahead of Trump’s Butler, Pa., rally on Saturday.
“All of us want answers,” Yoes said in a statement, noting remarks by Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas that the failure in security nearly resulted in Trump losing his life. “All of us in law enforcement can agree that the roof of the building should have been secured by law enforcement. It clearly was not.”
Fox News noted further:
The Secret Service has come under fire after it was revealed the alleged shooter was able to obtain an elevated shooting position just outside the security perimeter of the rally. Yoes noted that the agency relies on the support and assistance of local authorities for such events.
“Suggestions made in the media that suggest local agencies should play no role in assisting the USSS at events like that one in Butler simply do not know what they are talking about,” he said. Yoes said the Secret Service will begin relying more on local police agencies as the election nears.
“Yet, in the wake of some of the anonymous comments from unknown officials, State and local agencies may wonder if they can rely on the Secret Service,” he said. “I am concerned that anonymous statements or media speculation could have a chilling effect on the ability of Federal, State and local law enforcement to work together through what will certainly be a grueling campaign.”
Cheatle also told the media something shocking — that her agency did not secure the roof of the building because it was “too sloped,” even though another building where Secret Service counter-snipers were set up had a much steeper incline. “That building in particular has a sloped roof at its highest point. And so, you know, there’s a safety factor that would be considered there that we wouldn’t want to put somebody up on a sloped roof,” she told ABC News in an interview Tuesday, according to the Daily Mail. “And so, you know, the decision was made to secure the building, from inside.”
From his vantage point, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, described as a “loner” by former high school classmates, was able to target Trump with his AR-15 rifle, firing eight shots before a Secret Service sniper neutralized him. Cheatle confirmed that Crooks had previously been identified as a “person of suspicion” but did not specify why the Secret Service did not follow up on him as an imminent threat that day.
“The shooter was actually identified as a potential person of suspicion,” Cheatle said. “Unfortunately, with the rapid succession of how things unfolded, by the time that individual was eventually located, they were on the rooftop and were able to fire off at the former president.”
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