Politics
NEW: Trump Directs Secret Service To Release All Information About Assassination Attempts
President Donald Trump told the New York Post that he has directed the Secret Service to give him “every bit of information” known about the two attempts on his life that took place this past summer.
“I want to find out about the two assassins,” the president told The Post in an exclusive interview. Why did the one guy have six cellphones, and why did the other guy have [foreign] apps?”
The president went on to say that the Secret Service has been holding back information because of former President Biden. “I’m entitled to know. And they held it back long enough,” he added. “No more excuses.”
President Trump was shot in the year when 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire from a nearby rooftop during a July 13 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Two additional Trump supporters were wounded while retired firefighter Corey Comperatore was killed while shielding his daughters from gunfire. Secret Service opted to leave the roof uncovered, reportedly due to the heat, giving Crooks a clear shot at the former president’s podium.
Local law enforcement officers also identified Crooks about an hour before the shooting, while a Secret Service counter sniper took a photo of him due to his suspicious behavior. Despite this, the gunman was able to climb onto the roof, assemble his rifle, crawl across, and squeeze off two volleys of shots before he was neutralized by a counter-sniper.
Secret Service snapped a photo of Crooks as he lurked around the rally grounds. He was seen as a “person of interest.”
Two months later, 59-year-old Ryan Routh attempted to kill the president while he was golfing at one of his courses in West Palm Beach, Florida. Routh was apprehended after a Secret Service agent opened fire at a gunman’s sniper’s nest on the fence line of the golf course, where Routh was allegedly was waiting with a scoped rifle in a camoflagued position.
The would-be assassin then fled and was apprehended in nearby Martin County. Routh, who had travelled to Ukraine in the months leading up to the shooting, is facing a number of state and federal charges that could land him in prison for life if convicted.
