What we learned from the Trump assassination attempt hearing

OAuthorities shared new details about the timeline of the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump and additional information about the shooter during a Senate hearing on Tuesday.

Acting Director of the US Secret Service Robert Rowe, who took over as head of the agency following the resignation of Kimberly Cheatle last week, called the shooting a “failure on multiple levels.”

“I will not wait for the results of these findings to assess where we failed that day, and I will continue to take immediate action to ensure that we do not repeat those failures,” Rowe testified before the Senate Judiciary and Homeland Security committees, in reference to the multiple investigations into the attempted murder.

The shooting at a Trump rally on July 13 in Butler, Pennsylvania, sent shockwaves across the country, prompting calls for accountability from the Secret Service tasked with protecting the 45th President. Although authorities neutralized Thomas Matthew Crooks, the 20-year-old attacker, Rowe said he couldn’t understand “why there wasn’t better coverage or at least someone looking at that roof line when that’s where they were posted.”

Authorities have not yet identified a motive, said Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Deputy Director Paul Abbate. There is currently no evidence that the shooter acted with any co-conspirators.

Here is the information we learned during the Senate hearing on July 30.

Crooks’ timeline before the shooting

Abbate said investigations remain ongoing and details may be refined, but shared a current work report timeline of events on the day of Trump’s assassination attempt.

Crooks registered to attend Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 6. That day, he Googled, “How far was Oswald from Kennedy,” referring to the man who shot President John F. Kennedy in 1963 in Dallas. Next The next day, Crooks visited the area of ​​the Butler farm where the rally was to take place, which Abbate said shows that Crooks was planning ahead.

The rally was held on July 13. At 1:30 p.m. that day, Crooks’ father gave his son a rifle he believed Crooks would use at a sports club, Abbate said. About 25 minutes later, the shooter purchased ammunition while traveling to Trump’s event.

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At 3:51 p.m., Crooks flew a drone about 200 yards from the Butler Farm showground. Rowe testified that an anti-drone system was not used that day due to connectivity issues. “On this particular day, due to the connectivity challenge… there was a delay,” he said. If the system had been employed, “maybe we could have stopped him,” Roe said.

Local SWAT officers first observed the assailant near the American Glass Research (AGR) building, where the shooting occurred, at about 5:32 p.m., Abbate said. At 5:38 p.m., a photo of the shooter was sent in a group text message with local SWAT operators. Rowe later said information about the shooter should have gone over a radio channel so all officers would have “situational awareness” of Crooks.

Authorities temporarily lost sight of Crooks, during which the shooter climbed onto the roof of the AGR building. At 6:08 p.m., local police saw the shooter on the roof, and a local police officer radioed that Crooks had a long gun. Over the next 30 seconds, about eight shots were fired, according to the number of cartridges found by authorities.

A possible social media account

The FBI recently discovered a social media account it believes is associated with Crooks, according to Abbate. That account had more than 700 comments that “appear to reflect anti-Semitic and anti-immigrant themes to advocate political violence and are described as extreme in nature,” Abbate said.

Authorities are still working to verify whether the account belonged to Crooks, but Abbate said it was important to share these new details because of the lack of information about Crooks’ motive.

Lack of communication between local and federal authorities

Authorities testified that information about the armed assailant was isolated to local law enforcement channels, preventing federal agents from being proactive against the criminals.

Rowe said the Secret Service was aware that local officials “were working on a problem at three o’clock — which would have been the former president’s right side,” but had not received information about the specific threat in question. “No information about a weapon on the roof was passed on to our personnel,” Rowe said. He claimed the Secret Service assumed local authorities were handling the situation.

Democratic Sen. Gary Peters of Michigan said local officials told him they could only call a state command center and could not communicate directly with the Secret Service. Rowe said he was working to “discover interoperability” between local and federal authorities.