Newly released bodycam footage has emerged from the July 13 rally of former President Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, displaying a heated exchange between local law enforcement officers concerning the Secret Service. The footage, obtained by Judicial Watch, captured the critical moments of the thwarted assassination attempt on Trump.
The video begins with a police officer urgently requesting backup, signaling the onset of the chaotic events that would unfold. However, the top revelation from the newly-released footage is the exposure of a breakdown in coordination that could have had dire consequences. A frustrated officer is heard criticizing the Secret Service’s deployment strategy, or lack thereof, in the clip: “I f*cking told them they need to post the guys f*cking over here! I told them at the f*cking, the Secret Service, I told them that f*cking Tuesday. I told them to post f*cking guys over here!”
The lack of personnel in critical areas was a recurring theme in the footage, which documented the officers’ growing frustration. “I wasn’t even concerned about it because I thought someone was on the roof,” one officer admitted. “I bet he climbed up here… I bet he climbed the wall,” said one of the officers.
One officer’s exasperation is palpable as he recounts his interactions with the Secret Service, which seemed to initially acknowledge the need for increased security: “I thought we were going to post guys over here. I talked to the Secret Service guys, they were like ‘Yeah no problem, we’re going to post guys over here.’”
WATCH:
The footage concludes with officers responding to the aftermath, trying to make sense of the situation and coordinate further action. The footage also provided a new angle of Thomas Matthew Crooks’ body on the roof. Crooks, a 20-year-old from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, fired eight rounds from an AR–15–style rifle from the roof of a nearby building on July 13.
Trump was struck in the upper right ear but managed to avoid more severe injury. In addition to injuring Trump, Crooks killed one rally attendee, Corey Comperatore, a 50-year-old former fire chief, and critically wounded two others. Crooks was eventually shot and killed by the U.S. Secret Service’s Counter Sniper Team.
The event unfolded at an open rally held as part of Trump’s campaign for the 2024 presidential election. Security at the rally included both state police and Secret Service agents, who had positioned snipers in nearby buildings. However, Crooks managed to position himself undetected on a roof, from where he carried out the attack. Witnesses reported seeing him on the roof with a rifle shortly before the shooting began.
Despite increased security measures due to prior intelligence suggesting threats against Trump, Crooks was able to evade detection until it was too late. Trump was treated at a nearby hospital and released later that day in stable condition. The assassination attempt did not deter Trump from making a public appearance just two days later at the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, where he was seen wearing a bandage over his ear.
The attack led to widespread criticism of the security arrangements at the rally, particularly concerning lapses that allowed Crooks to position himself without detection. Kimberly Cheatle, the Director of the Secret Service, resigned ten days later. In the aftermath, Trump’s campaign organized a fundraising effort for the victims’ families, raising over $2 million.
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