Exclusive — Butler Township Commissioner: Local Police Were ‘Strictly’ Tasked with Traffic Control

The local police officer who was hoisted up to the edge of the roof and spotted former President Donald Trump’s would-be assassin is not to blame for the carnage that unfolded, Butler Township Commissioner Edward Natali said during an appearance on Breitbart News Daily, explaining that the mainstream media are not accurately telling the story of what actually happened.

The news has been inundated with stories of an unnamed local police officer who encountered the Thomas Crooks prior to the shooting, largely placing blame on that officer. But Natali said that is not fair, nor is the story accurate.

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He explained that seven local police officers — Butler Township Police Department officers — “were strictly there for traffic control.”

“When you look at Secret Service, Pennsylvania State Police, Butler County Sheriff’s Department, the Butler Township police only responsibility was traffic detail, and I’m not going to comment on any other entity that was there, but I want to set the record straight,” he said, noting comments from many who are placing blame on local officers.

“I want to tell you about my officer. He was not climbing a ladder. He was not in a position to engage the suspect at all,” he said, explaining that there was an officer on the ground hoisting him up with cupped hands so he could investigate what was happening on the roof.

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“He’s peeking his head up to see where the suspect is,” he said, explaining that the suspect spotted him as he had his hands on the roofline.

“The suspect turns his rifle and points it at the head of my officer. Obviously, he’s not in a position to engage him by any means, and he did not retreat,” he made clear.

“It’s not that he didn’t want to engage,” he said, explaining that he could not engage, as he let go of the roof to try to grab his gun, but he fell backwards and was injured in the process.

“He let go of the roof to try to get his gun, and of course, he fell backwards, actually getting injured in the process,” Natali said, expressing the belief that the officer encountering the suspect likely “forced him to shoot, maybe in a more hurried-up rate.”

“I’m looking at it that we unfortunately lost people, but he saved President Trump’s life by forcing him to hurry up and not having his shots made as accurate as he could have,” he said, emphasizing that local police were not in charge of that building, either.

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“It’s still being investigated. I’m going to say that that building was discussed earlier in the week. That was confirmed to me. I wasn’t directly in the loop of all the preparations, but I can tell you, my team had a very good operational plan for that day, but it was all traffic control,” he said, explaining that while he does not want to point fingers, Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle’s excuse of the slope of the roof was absurd.

“I didn’t measure it, but does that slope of that roof actually look more than the slope of the roof over at the HDR compound. … I heard your segment about, you know, incompetence and inept this and stuff,” he said. “Maybe it’s the Peter Principle. Maybe she should go back to guarding Pepsi bottles versus protecting our presidents, and I know that’s kind of snarky and that’s usually not in my character, but it’s — God forgive me for that.”

Breitbart News Daily airs on SiriusXM Patriot 125 from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. Eastern.