Secret Service COP OUT: Embattled Agency Claims Securing Rooftop Where Would-Be Assassin Shot Trump ‘Was 100% Responsibility of Local Police’
Donald Trump being rushed off the stage after getting shot on Saturday.
The bumbling Secret Service has passed the buck to local police after a would-be assassin came within inches of blowing off Donald Trump’s head at a Pennsylvania rally over the weekend.
As questions mount about how 20-year-old loner Thomas Crooks was able to set up on a roof 400 feet from the stage in Butler on Saturday, RadarOnline.com can reveal the embattled federal agency has refused to take responsibility for the monumental oversight.
Secret Service personnel stood guard during Trump's rally in Pennsylvania over the weekend.
Secret Service rep Anthony Gugliemi insisted securing and patrolling the factory grounds of AGR International – where Crooks was positioned in a sniper position with a high-powered AR-15 rifle – was the responsibility of local police.
While the federal agency covered the grounds where thousands of excited supporters gathered to see the ex-president, Gugliemi claimed the local police were recruited to assist and secure the area immediately outside the rally.
Butler County District Attorney Richard Goldinger refuted Gugliemi's claim: “Secret Service was in charge of this security."
Shocked residents living near the Butler Farm Show Grounds revealed they were not paid a visit by federal or local law enforcement in the days leading up to the event on July 13.
Valerie Fennell, a neighbor whose home backs up to the fairgrounds, claimed “nobody contacted” her before the now-infamous rally.
Thomas Crooks, 20, almost killed ex-President Trump with an AR-15 rifle from 400 feet away.
Fennell told The New York Post: “Nobody contacted me. Nobody. Nobody called me, nobody stopped here.
“I kind of was thinking that as close as my house is, I honestly thought this might be part of a command station at some point.”
She also claimed her entire neighborhood was “left alone” despite being in the immediate proximity of the venue.
Fennell explained: “I was talking to my neighbors yesterday, and none of them had gotten a call. Or anything.
The Peacock network cited 'security concerns' as to why it would not allow MSNBC's top anchors to cover the RNC convention live in the wake of the assassination attempt on Donald Trump.
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“I guess it’s kind of the same question that everybody has. I guess, as far as like, why that area wasn’t secure.”
Crooks, a 20-year-old Bethel Park native months away from voting in his first presidential election, climbed onto a factory roof at approximately 6 PM on Saturday.
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At 6:11 PM, the registered Republican fired off eight shots from his AR-15. The bullets whizzed 130 yards and grazed Trump in his right ear while killing one unsuspecting rally attendee and seriously injuring two more.
Crooks – whose picture was first revealed to the world by RadarOnline.com – was neutralized by a Secret Service sniper within moments of pulling the trigger.
RadarOnline.com was the first to obtain photos of Thomas Crooks in the aftermath of Saturday's shooting.
President Joe Biden, 81, called for an “independent review” into the Secret Service’s unbelievable mistake at the Trump rally during a national address on Sunday night.
He also called on Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle to “review all security measures” for the Republican National Convention kicking off in Milwaukee on Monday.
President Biden told the nation on Sunday night: “I’ve directed an independent review of the national security at yesterday’s rally to assess exactly what happened.
“And I’ll share the results of that independent review with the American people.”
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