Well, well, well. What looked like laughable security measures to protect former President Donald Trump during his Pennsylvania rally turned out to have been anything but. According to a new report, what we had here was protection on steroids, folks.
The New York Times, in all its wisdom, revealed that intelligence agencies knew about a potential Iranian plot to kill Trump before the rally. That’s right, they were aware of another threat, and yet we still had an attempted assassination. Go figure.
Unnamed officials claimed that due to this intelligence, the Secret Service had already beefed up security for the Butler, Pennsylvania, rally. The Secret Service supposedly “increased resources and assets” for the event but didn’t bother to give us any specifics. Nice touch.
Despite these “enhanced” security measures, a 20-year-old local managed to scale a warehouse roof and take a shot at Trump, grazing his right ear. Real tight security, huh? The Times noted, “[W]hatever additional measures were taken did not stop” this guy.
The threat, related to Iran’s long-standing grudge over the death of Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani was communicated to Trump’s security detail. CNN chimed in, stating that the Secret Service was made aware of this increased threat and that additional security measures were supposedly implemented. The National Security Council also made sure the Secret Service was on top of this.
You know what sounds like a conspiracy theory?
That this 20 year old with zero bomb or special forces experience was able to build a bomb with a remote detonator, sneak a rifle past Secret Service, gain access to a rooftop across from the president and shoot him with ZERO help. pic.twitter.com/58L9XDw54Z
— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) July 17, 2024
Now, the Secret Service has been trying to downplay their role, shifting some blame onto local police. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle explained that local police were responsible for securing the building from which the shooter fired. She insisted that local police had the outer perimeter covered. Sure, because relying on local police for a high-profile event security detail is always a winning strategy.
However, a former Secret Service agent pointed out the obvious: “The Service is responsible for everything, not just the inner perimeter. They should make sure all of this is covered.” He added that officers inside the building aren’t enough to address high-ground vulnerabilities.
Patrick Yoes, national president of the Fraternal Order of Police, backed up the ground officers, stating they acted heroically and the failure was at the management level for not securing an obvious weakness. No kidding.
“They acted heroically and put their lives on the line to protect everyone at the event, and we must recognize that,” Yoes said. “This is a failure at the management or command level who failed to secure an obvious weakness in the security of this event.”
So, here we are: a supposedly top-notch security effort riddled with gaps and an assassination attempt that came dangerously close to succeeding. The takeaway? Maybe next time, the Secret Service will actually cover all its bases instead of passing the buck.
Shocking New Information:
🚨BREAKING: Secret Service identified shooter ONE HOUR before rally and when confirmed as a threat minutes before they still allowed Trump to take the stage
Kimberly Cheatle needs to IMMEDIATELY step down. pic.twitter.com/8hA8wpCzLH
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) July 17, 2024
Stay tuned, folks. This story isn’t over yet.