Former SEAL sniper says Trump was 'extremely vulnerable' during visit to PA shooting site
Republican Rep. Eli Crane of Arizona visited Butler, Pennsylvania, on Monday with a bipartisan group of lawmakers and raised several questions about the attempted assassination of former President Trump.
Crane, a former Navy SEAL sniper, filmed himself on the rooftop from which Thomas Crooks shot at Trump with a rifle, wounding the Republican candidate's ear, killing firefighter Corey Comperatore and injuring two other bystanders at Trump's July 13 rally.
"Hi, guys. I'm up here on the building where the supposed sniper took the shot. It's not that steep at all," Crane said, poking a hole in U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle's claim that a "sloped roof" precluded her agency from placing personnel on the building during the rally.
Crooks, 20, climbed up onto the rooftop about 150 yards away from where Trump spoke and took a sniper's perch with a direct line of sight to the former president. He was killed by Secret Service countersnipers, but not before he took several shots at Trump. The Secret Service is under heavy scrutiny for the glaring security failure that let Crooks take position on that roof.
Crane said it was easy to get onto the roof, noting that 70-year-old Rep. Carlos Gimenez, R-Fla., was able to climb up as lawmakers toured the location. Calling on his experience as a former Navy SEAL sniper, the Arizona Republican immediately identified a nearby water tower as a missed opportunity for the Secret Service to place countersnipers and other security miscues in the area.
"Had Secret Service or anybody had sniper teams up there, this guy wouldn't have made it five feet up this roof," Crane said.
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Turning the camera to face an adjacent building with windows, Crane said Secret Service agents were supposedly stationed on the second floor there.
"Makes you wonder why they weren't able to quickly dispatch the individual," Crane said.
Turning again to face the camera toward the rally site, Crane pointed out where Trump's stage was set up for his speech.
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"A lot of questions here in Butler. But we look forward to doing oversight and getting to the bottom of it, making sure that never happens again," he said.
The representative's statements came after Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisc., released his official 13-page preliminary findings of his office's investigation into the assassination attempt.
The preliminary findings determined that the Secret Service did not attend a security briefing given to local SWAT and sniper teams on the morning of July 13; that local law enforcement said communications were siloed and that they were not in frequent radio contact directly with the Secret Service; that local law enforcement notified command about Crooks before the shooting and received confirmation that the Secret Service was aware of the notification; and that the Secret Service was seen on the roof of the American Glass Research building with local law enforcement following the shooting.
The investigation also found that photos of the shooter were sent to the ATF for facial recognition and that local law enforcement said the Secret Service was initially not planning on sending snipers to the rally.
Fox News Digital's Charles Creitz, Sarah Rumpf-Whitten and Landon Mion contributed to this report.