The lead sniper for the special forces SWAT team that worked with the Secret Service during the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump said Sunday that the team had “no contact” with the Secret Service before the shooting.
In an interview with ABC News reporter Aaron Katersky, a local SWAT team from Beaver County, Pennsylvania appeared on the station to discuss security concerns before and after the attempted assassination of President Trump. On the day of the rally, a SWAT group was stationed on the second floor of the building where gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks would later use to launch shootings throughout the day. The lead sniper said the SWAT team was supposed to have a “face-to-face briefing” with Secret Service agents once they arrived on the scene, but that never happened. (Related article: President Trump vows to continue outdoor rallies despite Secret Service advising against it)
“Every time a Secret Service sniper arrived, we were supposed to have a face-to-face meeting with them, which never happened. So I think that was probably the defining moment when I started to suspect things were wrong, because that never happened and there was no communication with the Secret Service,” the lead SWAT sniper said in an interview.
Katersky later confronted the team's lead sniper about the statement, asking if he had heard anything from the Secret Service “that Saturday.” The SWAT leader clarified that he hadn't heard anything from the agency “until the shooting occurred.”
“And then,” Katersky jumped in before the SWAT sniper could finish, “it was too late.”
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Katersky recounted how a local SWAT team had identified Crooks as a “suspicious person” before the shooting and sent him a text message with a description and photo of the 20-year-old suspect, but due to a lack of communication between the two groups, none of that information was shared with Secret Service leadership.
The SWAT team was deployed by the Secret Service to the second floor of American Glass Research Building 6, with only a view into the crowd at the Trump rally. Katersky noted that the team was told it wasn't because of the sloping roof or the heat that they couldn't find Crooks, but because of where the Secret Service had positioned them.
Following the attack on President Trump, former Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle came under fire amid ongoing reports of multiple security failings that day, and despite immediate calls for her to resign, she remained in her position until July 23.
Cheatle submitted his resignation the day after testifying before the House Oversight Committee, where Republican and Democratic lawmakers excoriated him for security failings during the event.
“I take full responsibility for any security failures,” Cheatle said in an email to staff. Obtained Via the Associated Press: “In light of recent events, it is with a heavy heart that I have made the difficult decision to step down from my position on the board.”
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