Lawmakers Touring Rally Site Shocked At How Close Shooter Was Able To Get To Trump

Lawmakers investigating the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump visited the site of the attack in Pennsylvania on Monday, expressing shock at how close the shooter was able to get to Trump. 

Members of the Task Force on the Attempted Assassination of Donald J. Trump toured the Butler rally site where last month, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks accessed a rooftop with a rifle and fired several shots from about 130 yards away from the former president, striking him in the ear. Crooks also killed 50-year-old Corey Comperatore and seriously injured two other Trump supporters in the stands. 

“There’s not one person on this conference that’s identifying as just a Republican or a Democrat. We’re identifying as members of Congress on a task force with a task to restore the faith and trust and confidence the American people have to have in our system,” said Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PA), the chairman of the group. 

Members of the bipartisan House task force on the attempted assassination of former President Trump are in Butler, PA today to tour the site of the July 13 Trump rally. pic.twitter.com/AcieHxyYXg

— Kyle Stewart (@KyleAlexStewart) August 26, 2024

During a press conference from Butler, multiple lawmakers mentioned that they were surprised to see how “small” the area was, and the close proximity Crooks was able to get to Trump. Kelly said that military veterans on the task force saw the distance between the shooter and the stage where Trump spoke and asked, “How could this not have been prevented?”

Kelly added that the “burning question” he had about the attack was why Trump was not immediately moved from the stage when a threat had been identified. 

“There was knowledge ahead of time that there was a person of suspicion on that roof and armed. The key was to get the former president of the United States off the podium, then there’s nothing that has to take place,” he said. 

Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO), the ranking member of the task force, said that there were still a lot of unanswered questions about the attack. 

“In the United States of America you do not get to attempt to assassinate our elected officials and our candidates. It’s unacceptable,” he said. “We are standing here in a bipartisan way to send a message that we won’t tolerate it. We’re going to get answers. The American people have a lot of questions, we have a lot of questions.”

Lawmakers on the task force include Homeland Security Chairman Mark Green (R-TN) and Republican Reps. David Joyce (R-OH), Laurel Lee (R-FL), Michael Waltz (R-FL), Clay Higgins (R-LA), and Pat Fallon (TX). Democrats include Reps. Madeleine Dean (D-PA), Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA), Glenn Ivey (D-MD), and Jared Moskowitz (D-FL).

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The task force indicated on Monday that it had already received briefings from the FBI and the Secret Service but is still working to set up further meetings with the agencies. 

Several other Republicans, including Reps. Matt Gaetz (FL), Cory Mills (FL), Chip Roy (TX), Eli Crane (AZ), and Andy Biggs (AZ), announced that they are conducting an independent investigation into the attack. 

“This is a message to all of Congress that if we are not selecting people based on meritocracy, that independent investigations such as this will continue to move forward, that there are members who are conservatives who will not be silenced,” Mills said on Monday. 

Those lawmakers held a hearing on Monday featuring Erik Prince, founder of the private military company Blackwater; former Secret Service agent Dan Bongino; and Ben Shaffer, a SWAT counter-sniper who was part of the team securing Trump’s Butler rally.

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