Secret Service Snipers’ View Blocked by Tree

“The operations plan was terrible"

Sources close to the investigations into the assassination attempt against Donald Trump say the view of Secret Service snipers protecting Trump was blocked by a tree.

“The tree provided concealment to the shooter,” said one authority.

That adds to a growing list of apparent security lapses regarding the plan to protect the Republican presidential nominee and former president of the United States.

Officials say Thomas Crooks shot Trump in the ear at a rally a week and a half ago, missing a fatal shot by as little as a half inch. A Secret Service sniper shot and killed Crooks 26 seconds after Crooks fired at Trump, according to authorities.

Trump was treated at a hospital and released, and kept his busy schedule at the Republican National Convention beginning two days later. He formally accepted the Republican nomination on Thursday.

Several experienced investigators who have walked through the site of the rally in Butler, Pennsylania, and met with local authorities and witnesses tell me it’s hard to fathom how there could be so many holes in such an important security detail.

Several other weaknesses discovered in the past 24 hours include (allegedly):

• There was a water tower that was left open. (The tower can be seen in police bodycam video released by the Beaver County Emergency Services Unit.)

• Secret Service aparently didn’t visit numerous businesses beforehand that had vantages across the street from the rally.

• Secret Service failed to do a proper “pregame” check after security roles had been assigned to local authorities.

• There were two command posts: one for Secret Service and one for all of the local law enforcement teams, and there was no integration between them.

• The local teams working security and the Secret Service teams were operating on six to eight separate communications frequencies.

That communications arrangement may have led to a fatal delay in the Secret Service sniper taking his shot at Crooks. The Secret Service had been briefed that local SWAT teams would be in the area and the Secret Service sniper had to make sure he wasn’t firing at another law enforcement officer, says one source.

The communications issue has reportedly been flagged in the past.

In April, the Homeland Security Inspector General (IG) is said to have recommended improving Secret Service communications by making sure there is a communications channel all authorities can join in real time. The IG’s report contained six recommendations related to federal missteps in the January 6, 2021 Capitol rioting, but the report hasn’t been released to the public.

“The operations plan was terrible,” said one investigator looking into the Trump rally security debacle.

Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned on Tuesday, a day after her disastrous testimony to Congress. Her uninformed or evasive responses led to a bipartisan call for her to step down.