The Lingering Questions about the Attempt to Kill Trump

from The New York Times I'm Sabrina. tavernes and this is the. [Music]. daily in the week since the. assassination attempt on Donald Trump. the security mistakes that led to the. shooting have come into sharp and. shocking focus and have now cost the. head of the Secret Service her job today. my colleague Glenn thrush on the Secret. Service historic.

failure it's Wednesday July. [Music]. 24th so Glenn you've been reporting on. the investigation into the security. failures around the assassination. attempt of Donald Trump and they were. pretty catastrophic so much so that the. head of the Secret Service Kimberly. cheel was hauled before Congress to. explain herself and then on Tuesday.

morning she resigned which puts the. blame pretty directly on the Secret. Service it was a Monumental failure the. worst failure in the secret service for. at least 40 years and maybe of all time. there was just a tremendous lack of. coordination between the group of Secret. Service Personnel who were tasked with. protecting Donald Trump and the local. authorities that the Secret Service.

Works in coordination with to control. the site around the perimeter of the. event okay so let's unpack that what. have we learned in the week since the. shooting about the mistakes that led to. this failure quite a bit Sabrina and. none of it was good for the Secret. Service and ultimately for Cheeto let's. start first off with how the Secret. Service divided the responsibility on. the ground so the way that this was set. up is that there was a perimeter.

and inside that perimeter was. essentially the province of the Secret. Service so you can kind of think of that. as the high security area it's the area. in the direct proximity of where Trump. was going to speak now outside the. perimeter it gets a little sketchy this. is the province typically of local law. enforcement now they're working under. the egis of secret service but it. appears that the level of security. coordination and attention to that area. Beyond this fencing was considerably. less than inside the perimeter right.

this was the thing that came up over and. over again that there were these. buildings outside the perimeter that. were kind of a blind spot for the Secret. Service and why was it that those. buildings in fact were outside the. perimeter and the issue that's emerging. and I think is going to be the story at. the end of the day is communication or. the lack thereof so what do we know. about the communication on the ground. that day and maybe start with when the. shooter arrived well we think he arrived. sometime after 4:00 in the after. afternoon based on geolocation data.

monitored by the FBI looking at his. phones the first visual identification. that we know of comes at 506 when he's. observed in this really eerie bit of. video that shows him sort of Milling. around the warehouse where he would. eventually take the shot from then what. happens is the local law enforcement. officials see this guy lurking around. and they identify him as somebody who. might be suspicious and they in form the.

Secret Service about it it's not clear. what was said or why it was determined. that he was not a threat so they. actually identify the shooter before. anything happens but they don't stop him. yeah like he's definitely on their radar. so much so that they take a picture of. him but the suspicions are not. significant enough that anyone stops the. event or delays anything and it's at. this point they kind of lose track of. him h.

so one of the next crucial moments is. around 609 or 610 at this point Trump's. been on the stage for like 5 or 6. minutes look they're all pointing a. bunch of people in the crowd see him. climbing up onto the roof and there are. videos of this yeah someone's on top of. the roof look there he is right. there on the. roof and they start shouting at law. enforcement to pay. attention he.

went what's happening this is about 2. minutes before the shooting right around. this time a couple of Butler police. officers go to check out the warehouse. one of them Hoist the other one up onto. the roof and they confront Crooks now. picture this the officer who gets there. is basically hanging onto the roof with. both hands and he can't draw his weapon. so the shooter at that point turns to. him and the officer falls back down. [Music].

this was another big missed opportunity. there was still time to keep the. shooting from happening at this. point yet they don't keep the shooting. from happening why not here's the. problem the roof Crooks was on was sort. of a blind spot there were teams of. counter snipers on buildings at the. rally but they don't seem to have had a. clear line of site according to an. analysis by my colleagues there are a. couple of reasons for this one the. gunman appears to have been concealed by.

some trees and then the second reason is. the roof had a slight slope so they. couldn't quite see him so shortly before. the first shot was fired you can. actually see on the video the snipers. repositioning themselves towards Crooks. but it was too. late the initial valy of shots then. rings out one of them hits Trump five. more are fired some of them apparently. into the crowd and we now know with.

deadly results simultaneously snipers. fire a shot that hits its Mark and kills. Crooks. [Music]. instantly so this was a day of just. catastrophic failures let's turn to. Washington and the response to all of. this how does the head of the Secret. Service Kimberly cheel respond to this. when she's called for congress on Monday.

well cheel was subpoena to testify. before the house oversight committee. this hearing of the commed on oversight. and accountability will come to order. and she really walked into the lions den. here my name is Kimberly cheel and I the. director of the United States Secret. Service I appreciate the opportunity to. appear before you today and she started. off the hearing by stating the painfully. obvious the assassination attempt of. former president Donald Trump on July. 13th is the most significant operational. failure.

of the Secret Service in decades this. was the most significant security. failure the agency had had in decades as. a director of the United States Secret. Service I take full responsibility for. any security lapse of our agency okay so. let's get into some of the questions. lawmakers and frankly a lot of us had. when she walked in there I mean one of. them and one of the things that's been. in my mind is how was it possible that. the building the shooter ended up being. on ended up outside the perimeter not.

inside the security perimeter how did. she explain that not surprisingly a. bunch of lawmakers asked her about this. including Congressman Raja Krishna. morthy of Illinois the security. perimeter was drawn such that the AGR. building was placed outside of it NBC. News has reported that in the days. before the rally the Secret Service had. identified the building as a. vulnerability that required special. attention correct that's reporting from. NBC yes so I am still looking into an.

active investigation I know but it's. been 9 days I mean you you should you. should know that right and cheel really. didn't provide a clear answer she didn't. give specifics she said that there is a. um secret service investigation ongoing. and everybody would have to wait for the. results to know exactly what happened. and what the findings were does your. responsibility in the secret service's. responsibility to protect a principal. stop at the perimeter of an event our. responsibility is to ensure the safety.

and security of the event itself but she. did take some responsibility ultimately. she would say the fact that the rooftop. was outside the perimeter is not an. excuse for what happened I am not. offering that as an excuse okay and said. that the entire site including the. perimeter and outside the perimeter was. the responsibility of the service so she. did say the buck stops with us but. didn't actually say why the building was. outside an area that they were directly. responsible for not local law. enforcement exactly and what did she say.

about why Trump was allowed to go on. stage when there was a known suspicious. person looking around she really didn't. provide a detailed answer on that one. either jimie Rasin who's the top. Democrat on the committee really leaned. into that point why was he allowed to. take the stage with a suspicious person. having been identified in the crown so I. appreciate the question and her answer. was pretty interesting and I think this. is where the entire investigation is. headed if the detail had been pasted.

information that there was a threat the. detail would never have brought the. former president out onto stage so you. distinguish between someone who is. suspicious and someone who's threatening. is that right I do there are a number of. times at prot it's this distinction. between a suspicious person and a threat. this person was identified as quote. suspicious end quote not threatening so. she's using kind of technical language. here but what does she mean really about. the difference between susp icious. person and a threat well that's not.

entirely clear that seems to be. something of a gray area if you go to. political rallies you will see all kinds. of folks Milling around and you know if. the Secret Service stopped political. events for everybody who looked a little. bit hky there would never ever be any. political speeches but there is a clear. line between someone who is casing out a. potential area or seems like they might. possess a weapon or is conducting. surveillance and I think this entire.

investigation is going to hinge on. whether or not they had enough data. points to determine that Crooks had. ascended up the ladder from being a. suspicious person to being someone who. could threaten the former president she. makes this distinction because for her. there's a meaningful difference in terms. of how the Secret Service should respond. or is supposed to respond but what about. once he's clearly identified as a threat. I mean when people are there shouting. there's a guy on the roof with a gun. this is the critical juncture here right.

we're talking about a 2 to three minute. period where it seems like local law. enforcement knew that he was something. more than just a regular old suspicious. person that he posed a threat what. happened next is really the key did they. decisively communicate that there was a. threat to the Secret Service was that. information passed to other people or. did folks drop the ball that we don't. know and as you say a lot of the. investigation is going to Center on that. yes I wouldn't be surprised if they.

documented this second by second there's. something else that surfaced in the days. after the assassination attempt which. was you know the Trump campaign said. that it had in fact asked for more. security resources and that their. request was denied by the Secret Service. did this come up in the hearing yeah it. did they asked for additional help in. some form or another you told him no it. provided kind of limited Clarity though. how many times did you tell him no and. what did you tell tell him no too again.

I cannot speak to specific incidents but. I can tell you in general terms there. was a lot of Muddy back and forth but. specifically regarding the Staffing at. Butler again I'm not going to get into. the specifics of the numbers of. personnel that we had there but we feel. that there was a sufficient number of. Agents assigned I think the big takeaway. was that chido said very clearly that. the butler event was staffed. sufficiently with security that they had. enough Personnel to deal with whatever. threat presented itself so it wasn't.

like this happened because they were. underst staffed for some reason exactly. yeah so by the end of the hearing we. still don't have many or really any. satisfying answers about how all of this. was allowed to happen look Cheeto had. one of the most epically terrible days. on Capitol Hill that any witness has had. in quite some time and as she continue. to deflect I can speak to you in. generalities no no I don't want. generalities I want specific. you could just see the lawmakers on both.

sides of the aisle getting angrier and. angrier and more and more frustrated as. the day dragged on you can't remember. you got little Alzheimer's dementia. going I mean what you can't remember. looks like you guys were cutting Corners. that's what it looks like to me you. should have come today ready to give us. answers I call upon you to resign today. not only should you resign if you refuse. to do so President Biden needs to fire. you it was one of those rare moments on. Capitol Hill where you have bipartisan. agreement on something and there. agreement was that she needed to go.

without objection the committee stands. adjourned and as I was watching it I was. getting all these texts from law. enforcement people and officials who. were telling me that there was just no. way that she was going to be able to. survive 24 hours and they turned out. absolutely to be right by Tuesday. Morning the Secret Service announced. through a spokesman that she was in fact. stepping down and President Biden said. that he was going to look for. replacement pretty soon so what happens. going forward I mean this is of course.

not a purely academic question it. directly relates to our current moment. because we're in the midst of this very. intense election campaign I think it's. really important to note that cheel in. her testimony made it clear the Secret. Service isn't waiting for the results of. the investigation and it was sort of. independent of leadership but that they. were making reforms right now to tighten. security and if there's one good thing. that could have possibly come out of. this whole Fiasco it's now that they. seem much much more focused on.

efficiently coordinating with local law. enforcement figuring out how the lines. of communications are going to work. better and being a little more stringent. in terms of identifying. [Music]. threats but what adds an incredible. layer of difficulty to this is that the. shooter himself Thomas krooks didn't. advertise himself as a threat he led a. very quiet life he kept to himself. there's no indication that he had a co-p. spirator or that he worked for a foreign.

government and in the course of. attempting to design the best possible. system to protect politicians in this. country that's a big factor figuring out. who might be a threat is becoming more. and more. [Music]. difficult we'll be right back.

so Glenn what have we learned about this. shooter Crooks in the week since he did. the shooting I mean last time you and I. talked we didn't know very much well. we've been able to fill in some of the. blanks myself and and my colleagues at. the paper he was from bethl Park which. is a modest suburb south of Pittsburgh. and let's talk about the family a little. bit he lived at home with his parents. who were both counselors both of his. parents had physical disabilities his. mother Mary Crooks was visually impaired.

neighbors used to see her walking to the. train station with a cane and people. told us that the dad had significant. Mobility problems neighbors say that. they used to be sort of a friendly. family but they become much more insular. in recent years they didn't communicate. with the outside world uh quite as much. and the house itself seemed to be. somewhat disorderly I was told that when. the FBI came to the house right after.

Crooks uh had been killed they found it. to be cluttered kind of like a. compulsive hoarders house so the family. seems to have been pretty isolated then. but what do we know about Kooks himself. he is described sort of the same way by. some of the people he attended school. with that he was polite that he was. friendly highly intelligent we were able. to obtain some of his school records he. was a straight A student he participated. in class discussions he truly excelled.

in science and math and was also known. to be very competent working with. technical stuff and computers but he was. also kind of isolated and quiet people. say he did not have a large circle of. friends and he had virtually no social. media presence which is extraordinarily. rare for a 20-year-old in America in. 2024 especially given how much he seemed. to be online playing video games and all. of that he was online playing video. games and also uh he did a lot of.

searches and this is really the most. Insight that we have in terms of his. motive was his search histories uh. presumably taken by the FBI off of his. laptop and a lot of this information. comes from a call that FBI officials had. with lawmakers last week and what we. learned is that he searched famous. politicians he in addition to president. Trump he searched Joe Biden but he also. searched Merrick Garland. the attorney general and Christopher Ray.

the FBI director and he looked up the. dates of the Democratic National. Convention in Chicago along with dates. of trump rallies and he also seems to. have looked into the British royal. family so there was really nothing to. suggest that he was obsessed with Trump. in particular or really any specific. political group or person they have not. found a Manifesto and they didn't even. find any sort of political paraphernalia. in his room so there's a sense I think.

among investigators that he was really. interested in famous people uh more than. pursuing any kind of a partisan path the. one thing I would say as a caveat as. investigators keep telling us they're. still looking and they don't know what. they're going to find okay so we don't. know much about why Kooks did this but. what have we learned about how he did it. what new has emerged we now know that he. seems to have been really determined and. to some extent pretty well organized in.

the weeks leading up to the shooting he. made a lot of online purchases he bought. fertilizer in pellet form and some fuel. uh for an explosive and then they. crammed them all into an empty. ammunition canister and made what. authorities say was a rudimentary. explosive device he also bought some. remote controls that are pretty commonly. found on the internet that are used to. operate fireworks so he seems to have. been trying to do some sort of remote. control explosive then then on July 7th.

basically a week before the shooting and. just a few days after the Trump rally. was announced publicly he seems to have. traveled up to Butler to sus out the. site according to geolocation data that. the FBI obtained from his cell. phones sometime before the shooting he. goes into his job at a nursing home. which is located actually within walking. distance from his house and he's he's. working as a a KitchenAid there and he. asked his bosses for the Saturday of the. Trump rally off. and he tells them uh nothing other than.

he has something important that he wants. to. do a day before the shooting he. apparently takes one of the guns from. his dad's collection which was not that. uncommon in his household according to. law enforcement officials and he goes to. the shooting. range the morning of the shooting he. goes to a local gun shop and he buys. somewhere between 50 and 100 rounds of. semi-automatic ammunition. and at some point we don't know if it.

was before or after that he drives up to. the rally site one more time to scope it. out but this time and this is where it. gets really extraordinary he brings with. him a small drone and he essentially. uses it to fly a pre-programmed path so. that he can survey with some specificity. what the layout of the site is and it. was a little after 5:00 P p.m. on. Saturday when local law enforcement. observed a young man with stringy hair. Milling around the perimeter of the.

rally and they identified him as being. suspicious So based on everything we've. learned about Crooks and about how the. shooting happened he was intentional of. course but he still doesn't seem like. someone who actually has the profile of. a political assassin yeah uh with the. caveat that investigators might find. some connection. he looks a lot like the alienated young.

men that have been responsible for. school shootings and other mass. shootings so he spent a lot of time. alone and online he had developed by. being online phenomenal technical. expertise there is something very 21st. century about this in many of these. shootings we've learned to accept some. level of ambiguity it's less about. finding one cut and dried motive. than a set of circumstances in a.

person's life and I think that's where. we're headed on this. one Glenn one of the things that's so. striking to me is that you know because. we don't have any real answers here. about why he did. this that has sort of created this blank. canvas for anybody to paint their own. picture like to derive their own meaning. for this event because Crooks didn't. give us. one yeah and we've seen all kinds of. conspiracy theories floating around and.

people have also made up political. motives even though the FBI has told us. time and again that they haven't found. any evidence of that sometimes they. fabricated them sometimes they've. imputed these motives but look uh just. because we don't have a motive doesn't. mean there isn't a. meaning and from the moment he realized. he'd been hit and you can see it on the. video Trump understood the political. benefits of the situation it came the. week before the Republican National.

Convention and it fed a storyline that. Republicans have been saying about. Donald Trump since he got into politics. that Trump was a fighter that he was a. Survivor that he represented the. American Spirit but it also added a new. one that Trump was somehow blessed that. he was protected by God and Providence. and it lent the candidacy and elevation. it had never had before we don't know. how long it's going to last but for a. week Republicans had a different more. dignified Donald Trump who had just been.

through the. [Music]. fire Glenn thank you thank. [Music]. you we'll be right. back here's what else you should know. today on Tuesday vice president kamla. Harris secured enough State convention. delegates to become the Democratic. Presidential nominee the times reports.

that her State party endorsements now. represent about 80% of the nearly 4,000. delegates who will vote on the first. ballot at the party. convention she also picked up two more. influential endorsements from the two. top Democrats in Congress senator Chuck. Schumer and representative hakee. Jeff they said they waited to endorse. her until after she had another. delegates to win the.

nomination as the momentum built around. Harris as the potential candidate good. afternoon. Wisconsin she flew to Wisconsin to. officially kick off her presidential. campaign generations of Americans before. us led the fight for freedom and now. Wisconsin the Baton is in our. [Applause]. hands and after we of speculation. Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey.

said he plans to resign from the senate. in late August bowing to intense. pressure from his Democratic colleagues. who had pushed him to step down after he. was convicted of taking bribes and. acting as a foreign agent menendez's. resignation spared his party from what. would have been an ugly fight to oust. him at a time when it was trying to. refocus all of its energy on retaining. the White House and and the. [Music].

Senate today's episode was produced by. Nina Feldman Diana win Stella tan and. Rob zipco with help from Mo zadii it was. edited by MJ Davis Lynn fact checked by. Susan Lee contains original music by. Marian Lozano and Dian Wong and was. engineered by Chris. Wood special thanks to David body Devin. Lum and the rest of our colleagues on.

the visual investigations team our theme. music is by Jim brunberg and Ben. lansberg of. [Music]. [Music]. wonderly that's it for the daily I'm. Sabrina Tavern see you tomorrow. [Music].