{"id":8392,"date":"2024-09-20T14:23:50","date_gmt":"2024-09-20T14:23:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kohajone.press\/?p=8392"},"modified":"2024-09-20T14:23:51","modified_gmt":"2024-09-20T14:23:51","slug":"lead-swat-team-member-says-no-communication-with-secret-service-before-trump-attack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kohajone.press\/?p=8392","title":{"rendered":"Lead SWAT Team Member Says \u2018No Communication\u2019 With Secret Service Before Trump Attack"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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 Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The lead sharpshooter for a local SWAT team has revealed a shocking detail about events before the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump earlier this month at a rally in Butler, Pa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an interview with ABC News reporter Aaron Katersky, the local Beaver County, Pa., team said it had \u201cno communication\u201d whatsoever with the U.S. Secret Service before the shooting attempt and did not make contact until afterward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the day of the rally, the SWAT team was positioned on the second floor of the building that the shooter, Thomas Matthew Crooks, later used to shoot that day. The lead sharpshooter noted that the SWAT team was supposed to receive a \u201cface-to-face briefing\u201d with the Secret Service agents when they arrived on site; however, it never happened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe were supposed to get a face-to-face briefing with the Secret Service snipers whenever they arrived, and that never happened. So I think that that was probably a pivotal point where I started thinking things were wrong because that never happened, and we had no communication with the Secret Service,\u201d the lead SWAT sharpshooter said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Katersky again pressed the team\u2019s top sharpshooter, asking if he had received any communication from the Secret Service \u201cat all on that Saturday.\u201d The SWAT leader clarified that there was no communication from the agency \u201cuntil after the shooting.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd by then \u2014\u201d Katersky interjected before the SWAT sharpshooter responded, \u201cIt was too late.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Katersky continued to explain that the local SWAT team had deemed Crooks \u201csuspicious\u201d before the shooting, and had sent texts with a description and pictures of the 20-year-old. However, none of this information was passed on to Secret Service leaders because of a lack of communication between the two groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The SWAT team was assigned to the second floor of Building 6 at the American Glass Research facility by the Secret Service. From there, they could only see into the crowd at the Trump rally. Katersky pointed out that the team reported their inability to see Crooks was not due to a sloped roof or hot weather, but was actually due to the placement chosen by the Secret Service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s more. Local law enforcement provided radios to the U.S. Secret Service for cross-agency coordination during the July 13 rally. However, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) said on July 28 that the Secret Service never used the radios, as reported by The Blaze<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe also have it confirmed that the radios that local law enforcement gave the Secret Service sniper teams were never used by the Secret Service,\u201d Johnson said on \u201cFox News Sunday.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo again, all of the communication was channeled,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cThe sniper and the SWAT teams were on different communications channels than the patrol officers, different communications channels from Secret Service, all funneled in through a central communications system, which delayed things and allowed this tragedy to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Johnson, the ranking member of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, stated that counter-snipers did not identify Crooks as a target until after he began shooting at Trump and the rally crowd just after 6:11 p.m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey acquired him after the shots were fired,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cBut again, we need detailed interviews with those individuals to find out exactly what happened. It\u2019s unbelievable how little information has been coming from federal law enforcement.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Johnson disclosed that the Secret Service had received images of Crooks taken by a counter-sniper in the area of American Glass Research Building 6 at 5:14 p.m. before the shooting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The counter-sniper first noticed Crooks at 5:10 p.m., according to a preliminary timeline that Johnson\u2019s office released, The Blaze reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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