Butler Shooter and Shooting review: Not Lone Wolf

But still Single Shooter

It has been about 10 days since Trump was shot at his rally in Butler, PA. A wealth of information has come to light, and a whole lot of questions remain unanswered, even though a good deal of them have answers that are known (by some). Time to review what we know for sure, what is plausible, and what is known to be impossible. Let’s also go a step further, and look at the shooter and surrounding issues as well.

As the title and subtitle give away: careful review of the available evidence show that there was a single shooter, from the position on the roof, but it is at this point abundantly clear that he did NOT act alone.
Lone shooter, but not lone wolf. There are too many problems and facts that show he could not have acted by himself, too many mistakes and errors that simply should not have happened at the same time and same place, and there are too many indications of an attempted cover-up.

Why is this important?

So we can aim our own research, attacks and anger at the right targets.

Yes, anger. Every American, and every freedom and liberty and democracy loving person should be rightfully angry at the act of shooting a political opponent, or setting up and covering up such an act. Those responsible should answer for what amounts, at best, to criminal negligence, and, at worst, to a treasonous conspiration to commit murder.

Strong words, and we all feel more or less the same. But can we back up our feelings with the cold, hard facts?

Let’s take a look.

• Crooks receives multiple packages marked ‘hazardous’ in the months leading up to the rally

• July 3: Trump campaign announces July 13 Butler rally

• July 6: Crooks looks up dates of Trump events and DNC convention, signs up to attend Butler rally

• July 7: Crooks visits the site the week before

• July 10: FLOTUS (Jill Biden) has visit to Pittsburgh added to her schedule, for same day as Trump Butler Rally.

• July 12: Crooks goes to range for practice

• July 13, 9:00am: Secret Service does not attend security briefing for local SWAT and sniper teams, talking, among other things, about drones. Not clear what action was taken regarding Crooks’ drone, and when that was discovered

• 9:27am: Crooks goes to Home Depot, purchases short ladder

• morning hours: Crooks flies a drone over at least part of the rally site

• A whistleblower claimed local police diverted officers who were supposed to cover the roof to inside the building. No detail if the lower building or the 2^nd story part, where ESU team was present

• 10:30 am: another report states 2 local LE snipers take position on second floor of AGR building

• Crooks goes to gun store and buys 50 rounds of 5.56 rounds

• Leaves, comes back with a small ladder and his gun

• 5:06pm: Crooks is caught on camera pacing around the AGR building, appears unarmed

• 5:10pm: Sniper 1 first observed Crooks

• 5:28pm: Sniper 1 takes a picture of a bicycle and two bags, which belonged to the Shooter, Crooks (A)

• 5:32pm: Sniper 1 spots Crooks looking at a newsfeed on his phone and using a “Rangefinder”, most likely deemed a threat at this point

• 2 officers from that sniper team (who is left? Chief Paris did not know) leave their post to go look for Crooks, according to Chief Paris, Ron Johnson has both still up until one goes down at 6:06pm (until 6:12) to meet local LE patrol

• 5:52pm: USSS snipers spotted Crooks on the roof for the first time, according to an unclassified briefing on July 17

• 5:55pm: Butler ESU Command confirms receipt of photos and states they’ve been relayed on.

• 6:05pm: Sniper 1 communicates Crooks is seen moving Northeast, in the direction of Sheets with a backpack.

• 6:09pm: Crooks is identified with a Gun, laying in a prone sniper position, by Rally attendees, who were trying to notify Law Enforcement

• 6:10pm (ish): a police officer is hoisted up by another officer, looks over the edge of the roof, sees Crooks, who trains his gun on him; officer lets go, falls down, Crooks fires his gun seconds later

• 6:11pm: Trump was shot

(Sources: here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here)

Here are the pictures the snipers took:

On X, user BudFoot108 posted the following slide, showing where that picture was taken from, consistent with the 2^nd floor sniper team position:

The sniper reported a suspicious bike with bags left, not that far away:

The long bag looks suspiciously like a soft shell rifle bag.

We can locate this easily via Google Street View:

There is no confirmation what happened to the bags and bike, and if there is any connection with Crooks. Crooks, let’s remember, arrived in his car (parked at a nearby gas station, likely the Sheetz on Evans City Road and Meridian Road, source).  

To make this more complicated, police reported also a van that was relevant, being towed away. FoxNews reported “Law enforcement combed through a white van believed to have been used by Thomas Matthew Crooks after he nearly assassinated former President Trump, video shows. Officers found explosives, including an improvised explosive device, inside the van, sources confirmed to Fox News.” The video shows police action when it was already dark (sunset in Butler on that day was 8:51 pm). What happened to the van and the Hyundai, what exactly was found in either of them, where exactly they were parked (some areas were subject to security sweeps by Secret Service or other police, or should have been), at what time they were parked there, to whom they belonged, etc. are all still open questions. 3 vehicles: a bike, a car and a van, all mentioned on the day itself as suspicious and linked to Crooks, but without any further news or confirmation afterwards.

Another intriguing questions comes from the recently released bodycam footage ( see relevant fragment here). We hear on the background a conversation between 2 officers, where they talk about the van. One of them asks: “In the Van.. did he survive?” Who is that ‘he’? What was being said in their comms that this officer asked such a question? Was there a second person involved, who was a threat enough to potentially be killed? The reply given is inaudible and doesn’t help solve this problem.

This would match the report on 6:05 that Crooks was seen walking northeast, towards the Sheetz, with a backpack. This is likely not the time he was spotted, as on 6:02 Trump began speaking, and according to eye-witnesses (the BBC interview), and Crooks was seen since about 6:07 already on the roof, crawling up. This is another hole in the exact timeline.

Crooks walked from the one side of the AGR complex, behind it, to the other side, out of sight of police, snipers and other security agents. By scaling the roof where he did, he was the most inconspicuous. The perfect approach.

How did he get on the roof? He had to walk to the other side of the AGR buildings, next to the parking lot. We all have seen the large ladder leaning against the passage between the two buildings, but that is not the short 5’5 ladder Crooks had purchased. That short ladder can be seen next to a storage shed on the side of the second building. One of its door is open: is this where Crooks hid his rifle? Or was it disassembled in his backpack? He did have a large enough black backpack with him, as can be seen on the roof.

Did he climb up, get on the shooting roof, assemble his rifle, and then climb up towards the top of the roof? Looks like it, given that he left his bag right at the lower end. This would explain why he stayed clear of the metal detectors, with the rifle in his bag. (And yes, it is rather easy and quick to field strip an AR-15, into 2 main pieces that can fit into a normal backpack, see video).

One of the videos seems to support that: we see Crooks low on the roof, back to the grass field in front of the building, and on his side, apparently ‘assembling’ something: (Source ‘crooks assembling rifle)

This is the relevant still:

This is not even 5 minutes into Trump speaking, so in line with the BBC eyewitness. As soon as bystanders call out the gun, police jumps into action, but strangely, Secret Service did not (they should have pulled Trump off stage, or even prevented him from going on stage 10 minutes earlier). This is 2 minutes before the shooting (check the C-Span full video, the above video matches with Trump’s speech at 6:17, Trump gets shot at 8:10)), people are yelling gun, the next minute a police officer peaks over the roof edge, Crooks points his rifle at him, and then proceeds to shoot at Trump. All within 2 minutes.

This is right after the shooting (source):

Crooks still has rifle, when turning and sitting up (He coming toward us!). The video then moves away, and it is not clear when exactly he gets shot, and what happens to his rifle, seen several feet to his left, after he gets shot. Did he throw his rifle? But you see his head pop up, providing a very clear shot, that was taken, ending his life within seconds of the above shot.

The irony is that there were 2 snipers on the second floor, from where you have indeed a perfect view on Crooks position (see video), but that the sniper, or both, left for a few minutes to brief police about the suspect, exactly when Crooks, within 2-3 minutes, climbed on, assembled the rifle, and started shooting...

Also important: no one was vetted on the other side of the fence, on the AGR grounds, being able to come very close to the rally itself. By itself another security error/oversight.

On the drone

Reports said that “The discovery of the drone was delayed when investigators found two rudimentary explosive devices”. This makes sense, and should not be cause of any suspicion. Police discovered his car, saw the drone, found suspect devices, cleared the car until bomb squad could come and neutralize the devices (2 were found in his car, a Hyundai Sonata). Question is: when did they find his car, how did they know it was his and where to look for it? There must have been thousands of cars from rally goers.

Also, there is a new report that shows that the USSS was scheduled to have their own drone operator present. This was then cancelled, for unknown reasons. Another procedure failure, with last minute cancellation, for ‘unknown reasons’.

On ‘the man in the grey suit’:

Reports from local police talk about ‘a man in a grey suit’ who showed up on scene, took pictures, and asked to send pictures the police took to him, and gave a phone number. The first images show a man in a light grey suit, talking to agents.

Yet when bodycam footage of the officers on the roof came out, a different person was visible:

That is a black suit, the same type Secret Service was wearing, with an identical pin:

Secret Service pins come with special and secret features that help prevent counterfeiting. We know that the manufacturer is Blackinton & Co. A 2018 article explained the special USSS pins, and claimed: “Blackinton & Co., which primarily makes badges for police departments, “is the sole proprietor that has the expertise in manufacturing lapel emblems that have new security enhancement technology feature [redacted],” the latest Secret Service purchasing document says. It goes on to say the agency contacted three other vendors over the course of eight months, none of which were able to “provide the expertise in manufacturing lapel emblems with any type of security technology features.””

The article continued, stating that while the USSS doesn’t talk about the specifics of their pins, the website of the manufacturer provides a clue: “Blackinton says it is “the only badge manufacturer in the world” that offers a patented authentication technology it calls the “SmartShield.” Each one contains a tiny RFID transponder chip that links to an agency database listing all the necessary information needed to verify that the person with the badge is the one authorized to be carrying it and that the badge itself is authentic.”

The initial reports state that the man in the grey suit had no apparent credentials, but asked for the pictures. Yet if we look at Sen. Ron Johnson’s preliminary report, we read: “According to individuals on the roof, a member of the Allegheny County Bomb Squad requested the photos be sent to a phone number, with a 215 (Philadelphia) area code, which was stated to be for the ATF. The ATF was apparently requesting the photos of Crooks for facial recognition purposes.” Johnson’s staff later called that number and confirmed it was indeed an ATF number. This is how rumors start: people see and hear things, and pass that information on without knowing the full circumstances, or forgetting parts. This then becomes a whole new story, where people hunt for ‘the man in the grey suit’ who is ‘obstructing the investigation’ and ‘is there to cover up details’ and such. I’ve read such claims several times.

Yet, based on Johnson’s report, it was a bomb squad member who asked to have the pics sent to that number, which was stated to be the ATF. No mystery there, no cover-up. Which doesn’t mean there isn’t any cover-up going on, just not here in this instance, with a non-existing ‘man in the grey suit’.

On ‘The lady who stayed calm and gave signals’:

Behind Trump a lady can be seen, who remained icy calm when the shots rang out, and took out her phone to start filming. Too calm, according to some. Very suspicious! This Tiktoker heard that rumor, and agreed.

@villarvalerie#duet with @Daily Mail #trump not everything is as is seems #thegirlwhoanalyzes #trump #bodylanguage #psychology

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Before long, someone figured it all out, and claimed that this woman is none other than Janeen Diguiseppi, Assistant Director in the FBI! And the FBI is not friendly to Trump, so, see! Even more suspicious! They KNEW! Some even go so far as to claim that she is the ‘key to unraveling the whole ball of yarn’. Of course, such statements are heavy on the insinuations and very superficial ‘similarities’, but extremely light on substance to back up the very serious claims. Which you cannot dare to refute, or be a suspicious deep state actor yourself, out to cover up what really happened.

But that ‘suspicious’ behavior is nothing special. Right behind Trump, another woman was dubbed suspicious, because, drumroll please, she dared to look quickly to her right, in the general direction of the shooter, seconds before the shot rang out. How did she know?!

@disney_pintopiaOr she has mad reaction skills! #trump

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Besides, even a little closer look shows this to be absolutely ridiculous. Look at the ears of both women, side by side, and tell how those belong to the same person. I’ll wait.

Some sources (that I could not verify) claim that this person was a certain Lori Carney, and NOT DiGuiseppi. But the pictures are the most clear and damning contra-evidence:

NOT the same person. No debate possible.

It is absolutely imperative to remain calm, and NOT jump to conclusions. If you want to make a serious claim and accusation, such as ‘the FBI knew this was going to happen’, you better have the receipts to back up such a claim. And make sure that they are a lot stronger than ‘she acts suspicious, and looks kinda the same as an FBI agent!’ Based your claims on facts, and you’ll be a whole lot closer to the truth. It is a distraction, ultimately, a red herring, that keeps you from getting close to the actual truth.

On the FBI washing the rooftop on the 15^th of July: this is nothing nefarious. There was a substantial blood trail, all the way down the roof. It is standard practice to clean up such human remains and fluids as quickly as possible after the testing is done. And how long would it take to photograph the blood stain, perhaps take some samples? Not days... This part of the crime scene wasn’t particularly complex!

Being critical is good, but not when it makes you overly suspicious of everything, even things that under normal circumstances wouldn’t make you bat an eye. There is understandable distrust in the FBI, but that, by itself is not enough to turn everything into a cover-up. There are already plenty of things they did that can be pointed at, not in the least their habit of ‘leading’ and training suspects (again, remember Sami Osmakac?)

On Crooks:

His father is a Libertarian and his mother is a Democrat, as voter registration records show. (source) He himself has a registration as a Republican, but that means nothing, given that PA is a state with open primaries, and people can easily change registration to mess with the other’s primary.

Weirdly, Fox reported that the parents of the Trump shooter, a fully grown adult at 20 years old, about to go to college for computer engineering, called law enforcement on the day of the assassination attempt to warn them that he was "missing" and they were "worried" about him.

As Sean Davis pointed out: “The FBI told us almost immediately that while it couldn’t open the assassin’s phone, it knew he acted alone. That’s kind of strange, when you think about it. They told us almost immediately that they identified him by DNA, despite him having no criminal record.” Apparently, they used the ATF facial recognition database to identify the shooter, with the pics of the dead body, sent to ‘the man in the gray suit’. But Policito and other news outlets also know ‘it was Iran!’

Tony Seruga looked at available cell phone data, and found that Crooks had visited the Butler Farm Show grounds 5 times in the week leading up to the rally, visited the AGR corporate office for 6  minutes, and walked the building for 12 minutes (who did he see, did he speak with anyone? Who gave him permission to walk around?). A visit to a bar after this walking in the AGR building lasted about 97 minutes, during which time 2 other cell phones were about 3 feet away from Crooks, and there for most of those 97 minutes Crooks was there. Did he meet up with 2 people?

Other cell phone data showed how someone who regularly visited Crooks at home and at work also visited a building in DC, in the vicinity of an FBI office. This visit took place on June 26, 2023. Who was that? What was the nature of his/her relationship with Crooks? What was the reason for the DC visit? Might be nothing, might be a loose end. Another device suddenly stopped working on June 12, the day before the shooting. Again, might be normal, but it sure doesn’t look good. (Source of the cell phone data)

Crooks made 3 bombs, had a remote detonator, had ‘three encrypted accounts overseas’, in Germany, Belgium and New Zealand. He had a tactical vest and 4 more magazines with the same caliber ammunition in his car, which he didn’t bring with him. This shows he had a very clear and limited purpose, and did not plan on a large scale Vegas style mass shooting event. He was there for Trump. (Which explains the extensive practice on the gun range the day before: shooting indiscriminately into a crowd does not really require much training.)

Reports state that the FBI unlocked the encryption within 48 hours, but no statements of what was found have been made. Who did he talk to that required encryption? Or was it bank accounts? The reports are very vague, and I have not yet found an unequivocal description and explanation of what exactly was found. Either way, this could be completely non-nefarious. If he meddled with cryptocurrencies, it is not uncommon to have accounts on overseas servers, which would be, per the norm, heavily encrypted to protect the money involved.

On the presence of CNN broadcasting a GROK on CNN and broadcasting rallies Trump:

A google search shows the absence of Trump rallies being covered by CNN before the 13^th. Is this suspicious? A little, but not inherently so. By itself, I would discount this element. Taken altogether, it is one more element that is just out of place, just not as it normally would have been.

On Sniper Teams:
There are now reports of 4 sniper teams. 2 on the roofs right behind the podium, 1 on a roof much further to the left of the rally side, looking from the podium, and 1 team inside the building to the right of the podium. Sen Ron Johnson’s preliminary report stated this: “Local law enforcement informed Senator Johnson’s office that days before the rally, they learned from Butler County law enforcement that Secret Service was not going to send their own snipers to the rally and that local law enforcement would need to go “sniper heavy” in order to ensure proper coverage. Local law enforcement learned at least a day before the rally that Secret Service changed course and decided to send two sniper teams. If Secret Service had originally not intended to send snipers to the rally, it is unclear why and when Secret Service changed their plan.”

First, from the top, and clockwise, we have first the AGR building.

A local sniper team (LEO #1) was to take position here (or a Secret Service detail, sources contradict each other, and USSS and local police contradict each other on who was assigned responsibility over the roof of the first building), but, as some sources claim, due to the heat the team moved inside, which likely meant the second building, with the 2 stories. They did their work from the windows of this place, spotting and photographing Crooks with his rangefinder, and the bike left behind with bags right next to it and strapped to it. There are no details confirmed about who was up there, how many, for how long, and what exactly they did. Did they alternate looking between windows of different rooms? Stay in the same room? We don’t know. Reports say that the sniper, or both, went down to talk to local police about Crooks (how he looked, what he was wearing, where he was and went, etc.) right before until right after the shooting. Talk about bad timing.

Another interesting point to consider, is this: If there was indeed a sniper team on those buildings, it becomes not unreasonable to think that the USSS sniper teams wanted to make sure they got a certain identification of the man on the roof before shooting, to make sure they weren’t hitting one of their own. The lack of direct communications might have played a role in that, as well.

Next, the USSS sniper team (USSS #1) we all know from the pictures and images. They have been intently looking in the direction of the first AGR roof, but weren’t able to acquire visuals to take a shot.

The other USSS sniper team (USSS #2) was placed on the other side, and my initial theory was that it was these guys that took out Crooks. But there are conflicting reports about who was where, and who shot/didn’t shoot the kill shot, making this claim not a firm claim, but only a theory. Later more about that.

They are also Secret Service, see their shoulder patch (and the same type of body armor with very similar printing as the other team):

The placement of the 2 sniper teams behind Trump is a bit weird, especially given that there only a few such teams: it would have made much  more sense to spread them out, to increase the angles and lines of sight of the surrounding area.

Next, a 4^th sniper team (LEO #2), as indicated by this picture:

They are on a rooftop of a building about 350 feet from where the body of Crooks was found, and, by elimination, were not USSS (we have 2 sniper teams from USSS confirmed present, and both were on the roof behind Trump’s podium). This means they were a local law enforcement sniper team.

Reports state that the kill shot was taken from 400 yards. (Source):

“The shot, from what I heard, there was about a nine inch window they had to shoot in from about 400 yards and there was a tree in the way, and they still got the shot off.”)  That places the sniper outside the 4 known sniper team locations. If 400 yards was a misspeaking, and feet was meant, it  was the first USSS sniper team. They had a tree in the way, perhaps an opening through the leaves gave a momentary clear shot?

There is another problem from this 4^th location. Notice how they are considerably lower than the field where the rally was? This meant they had to look and shoot upwards.

Check out the roof where Crooks was again. See the top ridge, about 4-5 inches high? The position of his body and the rifle suggest that he did not crawl all the way to the top, but almost, just enough to see over the rooftop and have a clear line of sight and fire towards Trump.

That makes the shot for LEO #2 very difficult. Look at the following (not to scale, just to explain the principle). Notice how Crooks is a little away from the rooftop, but can still see and shoot over it. From straight on (see yellow arrow), a shot can hit him square in the face, and his very visible (5-6 inches of his face stick out from the rooftop). From a lower position (red arrow), such as where LEO #2 is, this changes, and possible only 1 or 2 inches stick out, or perhaps nothing yet, until Crooks sat more upright (See picture further below, where Crooks is sitting up, and has turned. Was he trying to move over the ridges, to get a different shot, was he looking around to get his bearings, and see what next to do?). By doing so, he exposed more of him, enough to get a clear shot.

If I overlay the picture of Crooks looking up, and line up the white edge to be as broad in both picture to ensure the same distance, and line up the shoulders, you get this:

Perhaps he did sit back further, and you have to move his head further to the right, but the idea is clear: he sat up and was a lot more visible.

This furthest sniper team, LEO #2, is also not USSS, so they did not make the final kill shot. Based on the different version, it is LEO #2 that is closest to 400 yards away, USSS #1 is 400 feet away and has a tree in the way, and USSS #2 has a clear shot, but is not 400 feet nor yards away. Based on that reasoning and elimination, adjust yards to feet (an easy mistake to make), was it USSS #1 after all that made the kill shot? We also know that the sniper had a ‘window’ of 9 inches for his target: the above diagram might help show why that was the case, and how that shot was indeed an incredible shot to spot, take and hit.

Different sources state that 8 casings have been found on the rooftop, consistent with Crooks as the lone shooter, and with the 2 volleys of 3 and 5 shots. The main source is an Jack Posobiec interview of Sen. Ron Johnson, who really is biting down hard to go to the bottom of this. “"We have spoken to two eyewitnesses and someone else who also has knowledge from the FBI that there were eight shell casings found near the dead body," Johnson told Jack Posobiec, noting that now former United Secret Service head Kimberley Cheatle would not answer that question in a hearing on Monday.” This info comes from eyewitnesses on the roof, and thus is not just an FBI ‘planted story’. On the contrary, Cheatle refused to answer such simple question. Why? What is there to be gained by not giving that info? Perhaps to increase the confusion and wild goose chases, thus protecting their own trails? I keep hammering on this point, but going after unbased theories is NOT helpful, but creates a smokescreen that leads to nowhere, and that helps hide the real information and the real culprits.

As the roof was only lightly slanted, and the casings aren’t perfectly round, they would roll towards the edges on the roof. The video of the bodycam on the rooftop does never really show the area where those casings would be, to the right of the shooter, still rather high up on the roof (basically right behind where the officer with the bodycam was standing).

Look at the 5.56 cartridge:

It goes from 9.6mm at the rim (ØR1) to 9.0 mm at the point right before it flares in (ØP2), which makes it roll in a circular path (radius roughly 1.5 feet), not straight down.

On recreations:

Several people have recreated the shots. Rep Fallon used a similar rifle, and shot 8 rounds with a red dot sight, and 8 with a scope (he didn’t know for sure what Crooks had on his rifle), and showed the results during a hearing in Congress. 15 out of the 16 shots were kill shots, and the 16^th clipped the ear of the head of the target. It is not clear if he also recreated the speed of the shots.

Martenson recreated the shots, focusing on the speed, and found it very hard to shoot as fast as the 2^nd volley AND accurately.

The great recreation by Azget on Youtube shows this view:

Stills:

It shows the spread of the bullets, as fired during both the first and second volley, showing a larger target area, still small, but much bigger than the head or torso of Trump.

On Cheatle:
Cheatle was in charge of the SS internal review of January 6, and is involved in the deleted text message scandal. The messages of about 20 top SS agents and officials were asked about, and Cheatle said they were deleted, and could not be retrieved... Mayorkas similarly stonewalled the requests to attempt to recover those message, and appointed Cheatle to ‘investigate’, who, surprise, surprise, found ‘nothing nefarious’. Cheatle was supposed to testify before the J6 Select Committee, but there is no record of that. Same today: the directors of the USSS, the FBI and the DHS all refused to testify on the Butler shooting.

Meanwhile, people with inside sources in the FBI report that their joint terrorist task force is ‘almost exclusively focusing on anonymous tips about a “right-wing” response to the failed assassination attempt.’ We need an independent investigation, with full transparency!

At the hearing this week, Cheatle answered that while they have records of SS phone calls and text messages, they did not record the SS radio communications between the USSS agents that day. How on earth did that happen? Too close to comfort with the shenanigans pulled on January 6, where a pipe bomb was found in the building where Kamala Harris was, the presumptive Vice President. How come we don’t hear all over the news, being reminded over and over, how Harris survived an attempted bomb attack? Because they know, and we all know, that that bomb was fake. Too many problems, too many ‘convenient’ outages (a camera, aimed right at the bench under which the bomb was hidden, shows the ‘bomber’, reaching in his backpack, and then, nothing. Feed stops...

The cell phone data of that bomber was also ‘corrupted’, and unusable. The only such corrupted cell phone data, where thousands of others got FBI visits to ask what they were doing that day, based on those location and other cell phone records. And who was in charge to investigate that, on the part of the Secret Service, tasked with protecting Kamala Harris? Right, Cheatle.

During the hearing, Cheatle admitted to her and other USSS agents using encrypted messaging apps on their personal phones to “colleagues in the federal government and overseas”. This is in breach with several rules, similar to the stunt Clinton pulled with her own server. It keeps those communications outside audits and oversight.

Cheatle, when asked why USSS did not pause the speech when the man on the roof was sighted, with a gun, replied dryly: “We would have paused it if there was a threat” and “There is a difference between suspicious and a threat.” Unbelievable.

Her claims about the roof, first that no one was stationed there (contrary to new facts that emerged), and the absolutely ridiculous argument that ‘the roof was too steep to ensure the safety of the agents’, show she was there to stonewall and obfuscate, not to help clarify what really happened. That she did not prepare and put together a proper timeline and fact sheet is further proof of that.

With that absurd line about the roof slope, clearly contradicted by the well-known images of the other sniper teams on a much more sloped roof, we cannot but wonder who made her say that. Is she the fall-girl of the higher-ups? Protecting DHS chief Mayorkas or others higher up the chain?

Now she has resigned, some act as if that is ‘justice’ or ‘the right consequence’. Many, myself included, disagree. The level of stonewalling, errors and negligence are too stunning for an operation by the USS of that level.

It is hard to not see it that way...

So, in recap:

A single shooter, but NOT a lone wolf. People at least ‘guided’ him, allowing the breaches in security that he could exploit, shutting down drone surveillance, dog teams, guards on the roof, communications, etc, while replacing the trained and experienced Secret Service detail Trump had with visibly less trained and adequate DHS agents, trying to get away with having no sniper teams, missing communication records, a stepped and cumbersome system for relaying messages between the different branches present, the suddenly added trip by Jill Biden with an increased threat assessment, siphoning off even more Secret Service from Trump’s rally, delays in reaction, the incomprehensible decision NOT to remove Trump when there was a suspicious person before he started his speech, and even worse, after, when 3 minutes long police was aware of a man with a gun,... (I am leaving out so much here!) It requires a willful suspension of disbelief to ascribe all of that to mere coincide, from an agency with an absolute Zero Fail mission statement... Not everything in that list needs to be malicious, or intentional, but all of that, at once?

Not even to mention what happened after, with the stonewalling by Cheatle, Mayorkas, the FBI, the lack of transparency and information, the ‘loss’ of communication records, the ridiculous claim about slopes of the roof, the indications of just how high this might be going...

Or how come he could make bombs, remote detonators? Had 2 vehicles, and a bike? The drone? The encrypted accounts? The different meetings? The parents who called him in as ‘missing’?

His perfect movement from one side to the other, climbing up and only being up on the roof for less than 3 minutes? Can he figure that out on his own, how to evade snipers, Secret Service, police, for that long, then to appear on a roof, with a gun, and get into firing position? Perhaps, again, not impossible. But in light of all the other breakdowns in protocol, requirements, tradition, necessities, common sense, communication, etc. too much to just shrug off as ‘bad luck’. Shit happens? Yes, but not with the Secret Service, not on that scale.

The lack of transparency so far by DHS, USSS and FBI are NOT promising, and only fuel further suspicion. Which, in turn, leads some to embrace the wildest theories.

I hope this compilation helps to provide a proper overview, and a better understanding of what happened, so we can aim our efforts at the right targets: not Crooks, not even his parents. Not the Secret Service agents, real or temporary, on the field that day (they were set up to fail). Not the snipers, posted in poor locations. Not the police, trying what they can in a lower order in the communication chain. Instead, those in command. Those responsible for planning, in the White House and for the Secret Service.

Follow the facts, pursue truth.

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Addendum:

Lone shooter =/= lone wolf!

I am sharing here a review by a dear and trusted friend, SLAG, to further explore that topic:

A second shooter makes sense when a conspiracy is trying to kill someone of less importance than Trump.

If a patsy takes a shot at the president, the pope, or the prime minister; nobody will investigate the well placed shot into the forehead of the assistant deputy to the director.

When the assistant deputy was the target all along.

But here, there was no one like that in the crowd behind Trump.

I’ve only heard Trump being suggested as the target.

Most insurgent/civilian sniper attacks are hasty. They are hasty to reduce exposure.

I’ve studied this subject intensely, and while there may be a great deal of planning that goes into getting the sniper in position with their rifle and then back out, the shooting position + shot is taken in an awful hurry.

That brings up another point. In the rush to find the sniper, the support element is often overlooked - and it’s always there.

You study any sniper incident and you’ll find a support element. Lone wolf attacks are exceedingly rare (Charles Whitman at UT & the tower is an exception). Even the beltway snipers had support (each other + the car)

The IRA had probably the most sophisticated support element for their attacks - and they always hit a checkpoint or a patrol that fell victim to a pattern. In those - the shooter arrived to the firing location, and found the rifle waiting there - placed by the support element (called the quartermaster). After the shot, the sniper would run away from the shooting location as fast as possible, and conceal the rifle in a dead drop to be retrieved later by the support element. After ditching the rifle, the shooter would get in a cab, get on a bus, get in a car, don a uniform and get in a contractor’s vehicle, etc.

The trick was to go from civilian-insurgent-civilian as quickly as possible.

I see some of those hallmarks here.

A shooting location was definitely chosen.

Some element of support was involved; the rifle, transport, the ladder, where to go, etc. the window of dead space where the shooter could see Trump but the SS counter sniper teams could not see him was definitely chosen and preplanned. Even professional IRA snipers (probably the best in the 20th century) couldn’t get into a perfect position “cold” like that and make a shot. ALL positions are planned beforehand - very, very carefully. All the things needed to get Crooks onto that roof betray the presence of the support element.

Now - that also tells us he’s a patsy. He was never meant to come off that roof alive. I know that because he took more than one shot.

Frank McCabe was the active service unit (ASU) commander of the South Armagh sniper team (dubbed “goldfinger” or “terminator” by the press).

One thing he taught his snipers was, “you must have the discipline to take one shot and one shot only at the enemy. I want one shot - hit or miss - then you run away.”

This rule was in place for a very good reason. An additional shot vastly increases the risk of detection. Three shots is suicidal. Crooks took eight!!!

He might have gotten off that roof with one. Maybe. But after the 3rd shot Crooks was a dead man. It goes like this;

•first shot - oh shit, what was that?

•second shot - ok, shooter! Somewhere over there…

•third shot - ok probably that specific location

•fourth shot - ok I know EXACTLY where he is

Experienced counter snipers will know exactly where their target is after the 2nd or 3rd shot. Which is why you take one.

The shooting position too betrays this. The IRA took its shots from inside buildings or cars. 100% concealment with the exception of a very small loophole. They NEVER fired out in the open, or God forbid, a roof!

If Crooks was going to make it off that roof alive, he’d take one shot, re-conceal the rifle in a tool bag/box/something innocuous, ditch it as fast as humanly possible, and get out of there.

“Hey, I’m just a contractor! I saw someone in camo with a rifle running that way!”

Gets into car and doesn’t stop until he’s in Mexico. Then hops a flight to Indonesia.

Gone. Never to be seen in CONUS again.

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