Amid the fog of excuses over how Thomas Matthew Crooks was able to gain access to a roof with a clear sight line to former President Donald Trump, a new explanation has emerged.
Crooks used the roof as a sniper’s position to wound Trump and two other people while killing one person at a July 13 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Conservative pundit Benny Johnson, who is among the many people to look over the grounds where the assassination attempt took place, said in a post on X that what he called a “first-class source of highest credentials” offered him a different scenario of events to explain why a position on the second floor of a building overlooking the roof Crooks used was vacant, giving Crooks his opportunity.
“The snipers in this location should have *easily* been able to engage Crooks before he ever came close to scope site of Trump. Yet, Crooks was able to fire that day without anyone engaging from this position. Why? That answer is total and complete incompetence from Secret Service,” Johnson wrote.
“There was a three man SWAT sniper team located in this position. One member of the team went home early — not sure how this was allowed but it happened. The remaining two snipers positioned in this room were notified that a suspicious individual [Crooks] was lurking outside the building,” he continued.
“One team member left his position to investigate, leaving just one sniper with overwatch of the roof. The investigating team member found nothing and in the process of returning to his position realized he had forgotten his access card into the building,” Johnson posted.
🚨SCOOP: The REAL Reason Trump’s Assassin was not Eliminated on the Rooftop before Firing on Trump
This Information comes from a first-hand source of highest credentials.
The attached video is a view from the second story window of the AGR building in Butler, Pennsylvania. The… pic.twitter.com/hKSahQRVBA
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) July 26, 2024
“The last remaining sniper with overwatch LEFT [!!!] the position to retrieve his team member locked outside. Crooks crawled across the roof and fired on Trump while this fully-equipped sniper nest with a perfect view of Crooks assassin position was left completely UNMANNED,” he wrote.
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With some differing details, the account has similarities to what Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner Christopher Paris testified before the House Homeland Security Committee, according to its website.
When asked if officers stationed where they could see the roof left their post, he said, “That is my understanding.”
“I was told that at a certain point, they began searching along with other local officers. In the immediacy before––after Crooks had been identified as suspicious,” he said, speaking of what officers from Butler Emergency Services Unit were doing in the moments before the shooting.
Butler County District Attorney Richard Goldinger said only one officer left, according to CNN.
“Both ESU officers moved within the building, attempting to keep eyes on Crooks,” Goldinger said in a statement. “One of the officers observed Crooks sitting on a picnic table at the front of the building from his location on the second floor of the building. Crooks then ran off, carrying a backpack.”
“At this point, that officer ran out of the building attempting to keep eyes on Crooks until other law enforcement arrived. The other officer remained in the building, on the second floor,” Goldinger said. “The officer who ran out of the building could not locate Crooks, and he returned to the building. Both officers then heard shots fired.”
Although video shown by Johnson indicated the room where officers were placed had a clear view of the roof, Goldinger noted “neither officer could see Crooks on the other building due to the visual angle they had from their location to Crooks’ location.”
As to whether one individual left, in a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Republican Sen.Josh Hawley of Missouri advanced a similar claim, again with different details.
Hawley said a whistleblower “alleges that at least one individual was specifically assigned to the roof for the duration of the rally, but this person abandoned his or her post due to the hot weather.”
