Thomas Crooks was spotted as a person of interest at President Trump’s rally early in the day when he went through security with a rangefinder. He used it to scope out the snipers. He made it through security since he did not have a gun, but he had a gun accessory!
“Earlier in the day, he went through Secret Service security with his rangefinder and scoped out the snipers, who spotted him and said they need to keep an eye on him,” News Busters journalist Curtis Houck wrote in a post on X.
Miller said there was what he called an “eerie moment’ where Crooks was “taking the rangefinder and looking through it at the counter-sniper positions.”
“And one of the counter-sniper positions is looking at him through the scope. At this point, there’s not a gun in the picture, as I understand it, but they’re saying, ‘He’s looking at us looking at him,’” Miller said.
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When “setting up a long-distance shot,” Miller said, shooters use rangefinders to measure distance. Why didn’t they confiscate the rangefinder? Why let him in with it? It’s a gun attachment.
He went to work at a nursing home and asked for Saturday off but told coworkers he’d see them on Sunday.
Did he think he’d make it out of there?
Crooks Returns
“At that point, they told people to keep an eye on this guy, but then he leaves the secure area, the staging area, and he doesn’t turn up again for some time until the crowd says there’s a guy crawling up the roof, and it appears he has a rifle,” he said.
Where did he get explosives?
“Detonators for the explosives in his car were found on him on the roof with three, fully loaded magazines of nearly 100 rounds and a bulletproof vest,” Houck wrote, who also posted a video of Miller summarizing what he knew.
Miller also noted that Crooks’ car contained “two remote-controlled IEDs, remote-control bombs, in the car.”
“The remote control for those devices found on his person on the roof,” he said, adding that authorities also found “three fully loaded magazines with nearly 100 rounds [and] a bulletproof vest.”
“So it raises the question: Did he expect to escape from this? And if so, what was all that intended for?” he said. How did he get all this explosive equipment? Who did he get it from? Is someone else involved?
Earlier Saturday, Crooks bought a five-foot ladder and 50 rounds of ammunition, according to CNN.
At some point, Crooks is believed to have used the ladder to reach the roof, where he would later fire at Trump, wounding the former president and several other rallygoers and killing one person. No one noticed? The media reported he climbed up air conditioners based on police reports. That wasn’t true.
According to CNN, the Secret Service insists that security was not solely its responsibility.
Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle said local police were inside the building from which shooter Thomas Crooks fired, and it was the job of local police to secure that building.
“There was local police in that building – there was local police in the area that were responsible for the outer perimeter of the building,” Cheatle said.
The police were supposed to secure that building. Didn’t the Secret Service coordinate and ensure they did? How clear was all this, or was it never clear?
Questions Unanswered
Allegedly, Three Secret Service agents were in the building, but they weren’t needed inside. Cheatle said they weren’t on the roof because the slope risked safety. But look, it doesn’t matter when you’re cleaning the roof of evidence.
What about the ladder Thomas Crooks put up against the building? How did he get that far?
This CNN report does not explain the two prior reports that Crooks looked suspicious in the parking lot more than 30 minutes before and that another officer spotted him 26 minutes before on the roof. Was that inaccurate?
This report claims the officers went up, were threatened, slid down, and Crooks began firing.
What About This Eyewitness as reported by The Daily Mail: “Why Is Trump Still Speaking?”
“A man who watched the horrific assassination attempt on Donald Trump revealed he warned Secret Service agents about a gunman on a nearby roof minutes before shots rang out. The stunned witness, named only as Greg, told the BBC he saw the would-be assassin climb onto the top of a building outside the event in Butler, Pennsylvania, and that he was bewildered by the lack of action from agents. He said: ‘I’m thinking to myself, why is Trump still speaking, why have they not pulled him off the stage? The next thing you know, five shots ring out.’…”
The Secret Service needs to provide more details, minute by minute.
Looking at the videos, it took over two minutes for Crooks to crawl along the roof with nothing happening. That must be the “very short period of time” Cheatle’s referring to. However, a lot went on before. The Secret Service didn’t appear to make certain the police secured the building.
We need more information. Miller’s leaving a lot out.
The CNN video describes the new information, but don’t expect CNN to give a fully honest report:
#BREAKING: CNN’s John Miller reveals three new details on the gunman who tried to assassinate Donald Trump:
– Earlier in the day, he went through Secret Service security WITH his rangefinder and scoped out the snipers, who spotted him and said they need to keep an eye on him.
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) July 16, 2024
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