Top aides to former President Donald Trump and his U.S. Secret Service team have privately raised questions about why they were not notified that local police were tracking a suspicious person before that same person tried to assassinate Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania.
Gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, opened fire at the July 13 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, killing one onlooker and wounding two others. The former president also suffered an ear injury from the shooting.
The head of the Pennsylvania State Police told a congressional committee last week that at least 20 minutes before Crooks shot the former president, local snipers observed him acting strangely, took his photograph and sent it to a command center staffed by state troopers and Secret Service agents.
According to the Washington Post, Secret Service members protecting Trump and who were with him backstage have expressed concern about others in the Secret Service who were never informed that Crooks was being tracked.
They also said they were not told that local snipers eventually lost track of Crooks, or that another local officer, who was stationed on the roof of a building just outside the rally's security perimeter, noticed Crooks sitting with a gun.
Experts: SECRET SERVICE TO TIGHTEN SECURITY AT UPCOMING TRUMP RALLY IN PENNSYLVANIA OVER FEARS OF 'COPYING'
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump is quickly escorted off the stage during a rally on July 13, 2024, in Butler, Pennsylvania. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
The first warning from the Trump team came when Crooks began opening fire at 6:11 p.m., eight minutes after Trump took the stage.
Some of Trump's top advisers, who were located under a large white tent behind the stage, initially believed the sound of gunfire was fireworks and did not immediately take cover, the newspaper reported.
Trump advisers told the outlet they first learned of the concerns when the shooting occurred, and stressed they did not know why they were told about the suspicious person report so they could decide whether to delay Trump's speech.
“Nobody mentioned it. Nobody said there was a problem,” Trump told Fox News' Jesse Watters. “They could have said, 'Let's wait 15 minutes, 20 minutes, five minutes,' something. Nobody said it… I think it was a mistake.”
A Secret Service official told The Post that investigators are still working to determine whether anyone told Trump's security team or other Secret Service operational teams about the suspicious person report.
The official said reports of suspicious people are fairly common at some public events and sometimes are not enough of a concern to warrant changing plans or notifying the senior official's security team.
TRUMP SHOOTING: TIMELINE OF ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT RAISES QUESTIONS ABOUT HOW GUNOWER EVADED SECURITY
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump is covered by U.S. Secret Service agents at a campaign rally, Saturday, July 13, 2024, in Butler, Pa. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Then-Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle, who has since resigned, said when asked at a House Oversight hearing last week why the Secret Service didn't immediately delay Trump's speech or act more quickly when local law enforcement reported a suspicious person that such reports were fairly common.
“Suspicious individuals are constantly identified on several of our protected sites,” he said. “That doesn't necessarily mean they pose a threat.”
The questions from Trump's security team and advisers come after months of tensions between the former president's team and top Secret Service officials before the assassination attempt.
According to The Post, the former president's team has clashed with Secret Service headquarters over several rejected requests, including for more magnetometers, more snipers and other specialized equipment at events. The two sides were also at odds over security and logistics at the Republican National Convention held earlier this month in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, just days after the shooting.
Members of Congress have repeatedly expressed concern about how poor communication may have contributed to Crooks having the opportunity to shoot Trump.
TRUMP TO RETURN TO PENNSYLVANIA FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE THE ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT
Secret Service agents attend to Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump on stage during a rally July 13, 2024, in Butler, Pennsylvania. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
According to The Post, Trump's team could have altered its security decisions if it had been alerted that law enforcement was searching for a suspicious person just outside the rally's security perimeter. However, it is unclear whether that decision would have led them to delay Trump's speech.
Occasionally, there are reports of suspicious people or activity at Trump rallies that turn out to be nothing, someone on his team told The Post. This person said that when such incidents occur, the suspicious person is typically within the Secret Service perimeter of the event, meaning they have been scanned by magnetometers meant to keep out people with weapons. But in the case of the July 13 event, Crooks was just outside the security perimeter.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Col. Christopher L. Paris, the chief of the Pennsylvania State Police, told the House Homeland Security Committee last week that local snipers believed Crooks was suspicious because he was loitering just outside the rally site without going inside and that their concerns were further heightened when they observed him with a golf rangefinder.
Paris said the snipers then sent a photograph of Crooks to a Pennsylvania state trooper stationed at a command center with Secret Service agents.
