Gabriel Williams
I was at the rally, only 40-50 yards from the podium, and there were innumerable and obvious security failures long before the event started.To the iconic question “Where were you when JFK was shot?” we can now add “Where were you when Trump got clicked?” As it happens, my wife and I were 40-50 yards from the podium in Butler, PA, and approximately 200-225 yards from the shooter. This essay records my impressions of and thoughts about events I witnessed.
Preliminarily, though, I want to applaud the counter-sniper team that took out the Thomas Crooks. Within a matter of seconds, these snipers, whose job is to be reactive, not proactive, identified the target, acquired him in their optics, and fired successful headshots on a prone, low-profile target. Crooks was dead before Trump was on his feet, pumping his fist. I don’t care who you are, this was top-shelf, gold-standard suppression on an active threat.
Putting aside rumors about instructions they did or did not receive before Crooks fired, I believe they did their job as swiftly and flawlessly as could be expected in the heat of the moment. For my part, respect is owed here until I’m definitively shown otherwise.
That said, everything else about yesterday was an absolute train wreck. Let’s start with entry to the venue.
My wife and I have attended five Trump rallies, three of which were held outdoors. Once you get to the gate, security requires you to put everything you’re carrying on a table for inspection. Then, you go through a metal detector, after which an agent with a wand gives you the once-over. At least, that’s what happened at four of the five rallies.
Yesterday, I didn’t get wanded. Instead, when I went through the metal detector (which didn’t go off) and then presented myself in the usual ‘T’ stance with arms out, the uniformed agent simply said, “You’re good. You can go on through.”
That struck me as peculiar but not alarming. I never thought a U.S. Secret Service agent—whose principal was not only the presumed Republican nominee for the presidency but a former U.S. president—would be so relaxed, but I knew I was safe, so I put it out of my mind.
The venue itself was also a problem. Here are two videos I took of the scene before Trump was shot:
In those videos, you saw:
- dense trees somewhat close in and to both sides of the venue, with clear lines of sight to the podium;
- open umbrellas;
- a water tower(!) about a quarter-mile off the venue, but with an excellent line of sight (I’m talking about Texas Tower/Book Repository-grade line of sight) to the podium. I noticed the counter-snipers repeatedly checking the tower;
- a utility pole almost right next to me with foot pegs in (which a couple of people actually partly climbed, without security protests, to get a better camera shot of Trump as his motorcade arrived; and
- elevated terrain that sloped downwards from spectator to podium.
In the photo below, you can see the counter snipers on the roof:
<img alt captext="Gabriel Williams” src=”https://conservativenewsbriefing.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/a-first-person-account-of-security-issues-on-the-ground-in-butler-pa.jpg” width=”550″>
When has the low ground ever been advantageous to a defender? The whole point of a podium is that the attendant protective detail has an advantageous and unobstructed view of the crowd. Indoors, I concede that this is probably acceptable, but that’s a finite and much more easily controlled space.
Given these factors, who was running the advance team, and how did they conclude that this was a safe space for a presidential candidate in a heated campaign?
Between the water tower and the downward-sloping terrain, each should have been a red flag nixing the venue. At the very least, these deficiencies should have had dedicated members of either local law enforcement or USSS personnel assigned to them exclusively (such as shooters or just eyes on top of that water tower). Those who inspected and signed off on this location should be the first ones hauled before a congressional inquiry about this.
Of course, the more pressing question is how a shooter armed with a long gun got within 130-150 yards of one of the most polarizing figures in U.S. political history–unchallenged. The fact that spectators apparently were shouting the alarm about this guy makes it even worse.
It’s infuriating and inexcusable that matters got to the point at which Trump was shot. If the venue had been properly vetted and analyzed, a young, inexperienced shooter could never have gotten within 400 feet of Donald J. Trump, climbed onto a roof, gotten into a prone firing position with even just a slight advantage in elevation, and fired off 6-8 shots before being neutralized.
It was Crooks’ own experience that saved Trump. There’s a small airfield immediately outside the venue, with the usual windsocks. As a pilot, I know how to read them. During the rally (allowing that windsocks are the roughest of measurements), I estimate that the wind was 8-10 knots, slightly gusting (breezy).
At 130-150 yards, that would have mattered very little to an experienced shooter who knew how to correct for windage. An inexperienced shooter, however, would not know that. I firmly believe Donald J. Trump is only alive right now because Crooks was a poor shot, almost certainly under immense emotional pressure.
The poor shot wasn’t because of security pressure. After all, Crooks got into position, set up, had Trump in his sights, and got off 6-8 shots, scoring one graze on a headshot, all without any serious challenge or impediment. Crooks had a clean shot on target, and, thank God Almighty, he blew it.
When I say the failures of the Secret Service here are inexcusable, the word “inexcusable: itself seems insufficient. We’re supposed to be the varsity, and the world just saw some of the best we have get punked by a 20-year-old with Dad’s AR.
I loathe pointing the finger at law enforcement officers or USSS. It’s a thankless job, and I easily believe they have problems with having sufficient personnel—but not an excuse. If you cannot properly and adequately protect the principal at an event, then you must tell the principal that the event cannot go forward. The director of the USSS, Kim Cheatle, is going to have some very uncomfortable questions to answer in the coming days, and it’s not hyperbole to call what happened yesterday a career killer. In a different era, any person failing this badly would have been expected to fall on her sword.
However, there is a silver lining to all this. Democrats and the radical left really are the undisputed masters of unintended consequences. By virtue of surviving (and getting back to his feet like a boss to pump the crowd), Crooks just banked Trump the kind of political capital that all of Trump’s money would never have been able to buy on its own. Good luck throwing Trump in jail now, Justice Merchan.
Welcome back, Mr. President. We’ve missed you.
