September 27, 2024
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On Wednesday, the Senate held hearings to examine the Secret Service failures that contributed to the near-assassination of President Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania. Thursday, it was the House’s turn, with the first hearing of the House Task Force on the Attempted Assassination of Donald J. Trump. News was made not by the Secret Service or FBI, who still aren’t talking, but by local law enforcement. Indeed, the entire witness list was made up of local and state officials.
According to their testimony, minutes before the rooftop shooter started firing, multiple alerts on different radio channels went out to the Secret Service but were not received. They went into “a black hole.”
Sgt. Edward Lenz of the Adams Township Police Department and commander of the Butler County Emergency Services Unit, testified, “I do not believe they could hear us at all. They did not have a radio from us, and we did not have a radio from them. So, in the local command post, there was no way for us to hear any of the Secret Service radio traffic.”
And vice versa. This is consistent with what we reported yesterday from the Senate hearing: that there was essentially no communication between the locals and the Secret Service. It also supports previous accounts that the locals had thoughtfully set out radios for the feds to pick up in advance of the rally, but the feds never did. How did they think they were going to stay in touch? Smoke signals?
Something else that emerged yesterday: the locals were never advised by the Secret Service about the Iranian threat to kill Trump. When Florida Rep. Mike Waltz asked Sgt. Lenz, as well as Lt. John Herold of the Pennsylvania State Police, “Were you made aware that Iran has ongoing assassination plots against President Trump that are active and ongoing right now as we speak, including the run-up to July 13?,” both witnesses said they were not.
Specifically: “Was it ever discussed with you that an Iranian operative had transited Venezuela and was in the United States, according to FBI public notice made in March, recruiting hit men to kill President Trump?” (No.) “Were you made aware on July 13 or on July 12 that THAT DAY the FBI had arrested a Pakistani national...with ties to Iran, putting down...actual cash, down payments, to recruit hit men?” (No.) “Were you aware that that same operative [was] recruiting women as spotters and recruiting protesters as a distraction, a fairly sophisticated plot being run by a foreign state actor intelligence agency?” (No.)
As for how that might have changed the way they operated on July 13, another witness, former Secret Service agent Patrick Sullivan, said, “It would be a tremendous game-changer.”
As for any blame some might place on the locals, Herold cleared up one thing: “The Pennsylvania State Police provided all resources requested by the Secret Service. The Secret Service did not ask me, as the officer in charge...to post a car, a trooper, at the AGR International property.”
Pennsylvania Rep. Mike Kelly, who chairs the task force, told FOX NEWS that Thursday’s testimony was a “validation” of local law enforcement. (Sure doesn’t say much for the Secret Service, though!)
https://www.foxnews.com/video/
Yet it appears the locals were set up to take the fall. As Jesse Watters said on his FOX NEWS show Thursday night, “The feds were hiding the Iranian threat from Butler authorities, and then delegating all of the responsibilities to them.”
Jesse also showed newly-obtained dashboard footage that confirms Trump was allowed to go onstage even though, for three minutes, members of the local team had been trying to apprehend the shooter they’d seen on the roof of the AGR building.
Rep. Waltz noted on the show that even with this longstanding Iranian threat, members of Trump’s “core detail” were denied resources for years. He said there was even “some indication” that the Secret Service had not been advised by the FBI about the severity of this threat. “We have never in our history encountered this level of election interference, with an adversary openly talking about killing not only a former President but the leading presidential candidate. And what do we get...from Biden-Harris, from the left who are obsessed with ‘Russia Russia Russia’? Nothing…”
This, of course, is being discussed as we provide heavy Secret Service protection to the Iranian delegation --- the very people plotting to defeat the Secret Service and kill Trump --- at the U.N. this week. The mind reels. Perhaps Biden should tell Iran that due to the heightened threat to Trump stretching Secret Service resources, we’ve had to contract out the protection of their UN delegation to the Israeli Mossad.
Another major piece of information: Recall that the Secret Service were late that day and did not attend the scheduled morning security briefing. We now get the backstory from Waltz: “Not only were they denied counter-sniper teams [until that day], the counter-sniper team they finally approved was late in getting to Butler and didn’t have sufficient coordination with the locals because they were still waiting on final approval from headquarters.” Unbelievable.
Waltz concludes: “I think the negligence is criminal.” He also trusts nothing we might hear from the FBI about the shooter (if we ever do; their lips are sealed). Much more information in this must-watch interview…
https://www.foxnews.com/video/
RELATED UPDATE: Yesterday, we reported that Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley had sent a letter to acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe, citing Rowe’s lack of response to his requests for information. Rowe had called him back --- but it was to dispute a whistleblower’s allegation. Hawley posted this on X: “A whistleblower tells me the Secret Service DENIED the Trump campaign the resources & manpower for a rally in Wisconsin...Harris held a WI rally last week...I write concerning new whistleblower allegations that the U.S. Secret Service effectively forced the Trump campaign to cancel an upcoming event in Wisconsin. This new information calls into question your recent public statements regarding the level of security your agency is providing to the former president.”
So, this seems to be the specific allegation that Rowe called Sen. Hawley back to dispute. But Rowe would not put anything in writing about it.
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