Pennsylvania SWAT officer says team had no contact with Secret Service before Trump rally shooting
"We were supposed to get a face-to-face briefing with the Secret Service members whenever they arrived – that never happened."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A police officer on a local tactical team assigned to former President Trump's July 13 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, said there was no contact between their SWAT team and the U.S. Secret Service before Trump was shot.
"We were supposed to get a face-to-face briefing with the Secret Service members whenever they arrived," the Beaver County team's lead sharpshooter Jason Woods told ABC News. "That never happened."
Woods told the outlet that the lack of communication was likely part of the critical failure in planning that ended with 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks wounding Trump, killing spectator Corey Compartore and injuring two others before he was shot dead by a Secret Service sniper.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}TRUMP SHOOTING: TIMELINE OF ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT RAISES QUESTIONS ABOUT HOW GUNMAN EVADED SECURITY
Donald Trump, with blood on his face, is surrounded by Secret Service agents as he is taken off the stage in Butler, Pennsylvania, July 13, 2024. (Rebecca Droke/AFP via Getty Images)
"I think that was probably a pivotal point, where I started thinking things were wrong because it never happened," he continued. "We had no communication."
In the wake of the assassination attempt, Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle has resigned, and a series of law enforcement and congressional probes have been announced.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Woods told ABC News that he and his team were in position hours before Trump took the stage at the Butler Farm Show, but his team's first communication with the Secret Service was "not until after the shooting." By then, he said, it was "too late."
TRUMP CAMP QUESTIONS WHY THEY WEREN'T ALERTED OF SUSPICIOUS PERSON PRIOR TO ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT
Former President Trump reacts as multiple shots ring out during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, July 13, 2024. (Reuters/Brendan McDermid)
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}One of the Beaver County snipers took pictures of Crooks and called into command about his suspicious presence at the venue – but the 20-year-old gunman was still able to position himself on the roof of the building, ABC reported.
Meanwhile, members of Trump's Secret Service detail and his top advisers have questioned why they weren't told that local police had spotted a suspicious person who turned out to be a would-be assassin.
Trump's advisers thought that the sounds of shots, which they heard from a large white tent behind the stage, were fireworks, according to the Washington Post.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A Beaver County Emergency Services officer shows a member of the Secret Service information on his cellphone after finding the body of Thomas Crooks. (Beaver County ESU obtained by Sen. Grassley)
Two advisers, who were not named by the outlet, said they did not understand why the alert had not been passed on so that they could consider delaying Trump's speech, a sentiment the GOP nominee echoed in an interview with Fox News.
"Nobody mentioned it. Nobody said there was a problem," the former president said in an interview with Fox News' Jesse Watters on Monday. "They could’ve said, ‘Let’s wait for 15 minutes, 20 minutes, five minutes,’ something. Nobody said — I think that was a mistake."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Thomas Matthew Crooks is pictured in front of the Butler Fairgrounds in the aftermath of the attempted assassination of the former president on July 13, 2024, in Butler, Pennsylvania. (Bethel Park School District/Getty Images)
Beaver County Chief Detective Patrick Young, who runs the Emergency Services Unit and SWAT team, said the group "did everything humanly possible that day."
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"We talk a lot on SWAT that we as individuals mean nothing until we come together as a team," Young said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}In a statement, the U.S. Secret Service wrote that "as it relates to communications on that day, we are committed to better understanding what happened before, during, and after the assassination attempt of former President Trump to ensure that it never happens again."
"That includes complete cooperation with Congress, the FBI and other relevant investigations," the statement continued.