FIRST ON FOX: Secret Service agents assured Butler County, Pennsylvania, law enforcement that they would secure the building that would-be assassin Thomas Crooks shot former President Trump and others from on July 13 during an outdoor rally, per an investigation by Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa.
“Butler County law enforcement officials stated that at separate times during the walkthrough, when they reiterated their concerns to the agents and counter sniper about securing the AGR complex buildings, the agents responded: ‘we will take care of it,’” Grassley’s office revealed in a Tuesday letter to acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe.
Trump was shot in the ear during his July rally in the Pennsylvania town, and one attendee was killed while two others were critically injured. It was later discovered that the shooter had positioned himself atop a nearby building and had been known to law enforcement who observed him ahead of the event.
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Grassley revealed new allegations that Secret Service committed to secure the building Crooks fired from. (Reuters)
The Iowa senator questioned Rowe whether the Butler County law enforcement officials’ claim is true and, if so, what the Secret Service did to secure the area with the AGR complex buildings.
Grassley noted that in the weeks following the first assassination attempt, Rowe told senators during a hearing, “what was communicated is that the locals had a plan and that they had been there before,” in regard to the roof of the AGR building where Crooks took his shots from.
This, he said, was directly disputed by the law enforcement officials in interviews with Grassley’s staff.
The commitment from Secret Service agents to secure the AGR complex area allegedly came during a walkthrough on July 11 in preparation for the rally. The law enforcement officials claimed to have alerted the agents to their concerns about the area several times during it.
Sarah Taylor, an Air Force veteran, said she witnessed glaring security lapses at the Trump rally in Butler, Pa., on July 13. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar/ Sen. Ron Johnson’s office/ Sarah Taylor)
The Republican further reiterated his various information requests to the Secret Service and noted that at least two had resulted in claims “that it would not provide responses to my requests due to other ongoing investigations and reviews.”
“That’s unacceptable and fails to take into consideration Congress’s constitutional authority to conduct independent oversight. It also flies in the face of your congressional testimony about responding to Congress,” the senator charged.
Acting Director Ronald Rowe Jr. of the U.S. Secret Service addresses the media at a press conference with updates on the investigation into the apparent assassination attempt of former President Trump, West Palm Beach, Florida, Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (Mega for Fox News Digital)
Grassley’s ongoing independent investigation is probing several incidents, including the July 13 assassination attempt; the recently revealed plot by an alleged Iranian agent, Asif Merchant, to assassinate a politician or U.S. official, potentially Trump; and the second assassination attempt on the former president that took place in Florida on Sunday.
A spokesperson for the Secret Service told Fox News Digital in a statement, “The U.S. Secret Service is cooperating with a wide range of reviews and investigations related to the attempted assassination on Former President Donald Trump. This includes multiple Congressional investigations, including inquiries by the Senate Judiciary Committee, the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations in the Senate, and a special bipartisan task force in the House of Representatives. Since July 13, we have provided more than 2,800 pages of responsive documentation to these entities and have made our employees available for interviews as requested. On Sept. 12, Acting Director Ron Rowe briefed members of U.S. House and Senate committees regarding the agency’s mission assurance investigation. Given the volume of requests, the jurisdiction of requesters, and the finite capacity of resources and staff to respond, the U.S. Secret Service is prioritizing our responses to those listed above.”
The service did not respond to whether the allegation is true.
Julia Johnson is a politics writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business, leading coverage of the U.S. Senate. She was previously a politics reporter at the Washington Examiner.
Follow Julia’s reporting on X at @JuliaaJohnson_ and send tips to [email protected].
