The Attempts on Trump’s Life, Why He Shut Down the Investigations & How It Altered History Forever

Ken Silva, thank you very much for. doing this. You've written a book on. the Trump assassination plots, the two from the summer of. 2024, about which there are more. unanswered questions than answered. questions, and they're so. transparently ridiculous, the. stories that we have been told. My first question is, where are all the other books on. this topic? Why did this fall to. you?

That was my question, too. And you're actually probably one of. the only major media figures that's. still keeping the story alive. So it's a pleasure to talk to you. But yeah, there were a couple of. books published in. the wake like Selena Zito is. a Washington Examiner reporter. wrote a book called Butler, but it goes more into the. cultural aspects of like the Butler. community. And the political effects, the. political fallout of the event. It's not really like a forensic. investigation. This is the first of that kind.

Does Zito's book have a conclusion? Does it reach, does it reach a. conclusion about what that was or. does she affirm. the official story, which is this. was a crazed left-wing lone. gunman? Yeah, it's more or less an. affirmation of the official story. and again, just like the political. fallout. That's more of the book. She was there that day. So there is like a autobiographical. account of what happened from. when she got there. But it doesn't go into like the.

details about what happened over on. the AGR building or the security. failures or who Thomas. Crooks was. So I'm going to state what. I think is the official account of. what happened in Butler that day, and then I would like you to just. take us through what you know about. what happened in Butler. So the official count is there's. this weird kid, local kid who, um, really hates Trump and. he's been radicalized probably. online. We don't really know because.

he has no meaningful online. profile. He's like the only. young man in America who's not. online, um, and he's somehow a very. good shot and. he somehow gets into. the one vulnerable. place at the. event site in Butler Township. that gives him a. sight line to Trump and. nobody notices this because. there are just these and accountable.

holes in security, but it's just. amazing. It's just a failure of. Security and he takes the. shot, he misses, he kills someone in the stands, a fireman, and. then he's killed by. a U.S. Government sniper, and. he had no accomplices, he's just a crazy person, one of. many, and that's all we know, case. closed. And that's bad enough. But is that a fair representation.

of, to this day, the story of. what happened in Butler? Uh... The biggest issue I would take with. the official story about just what. happened that day is that, um, a lot of people think the secret. service sniper actually saved the. day. Um, you know, everybody knows about. the slope roof excuse for why. they didn't have somebody posted. there in the first place, the. fact that that building was. outside of the ostensible perimeter, even though it was, you know, again, like 150 yards clear line. of sight to Trump,

but a lot people say, well, at least. The Secret Service sniper stopped. it from being a lot worse. In fact, Donald Trump said that a. couple of weeks ago after this most. recent White House correspondence. dinner attack, he's. talking about, well, they did a lot. better at that event than they. did at Butler, although. my buddy David. saved my life at Butler. He was, he was the sniper, his. name's David King. And Trump says he responded in.

4.2 seconds from 400. yards away. Neither one of those. assertions by Trump are true, which is very bizarre that he. doesn't know the. details about the attempt on his own. life. In fact, it was a local. cop who saved the day. The alleged would-be assassin crooks. fired three well-measured, discreet shots, and Then. there's a short pause.

Then he starts rapid firing five. shots and then the ninth shot. comes immediately after that eighth. shot all in the span of. five seconds from the local. cop on the ground his name is Aaron. Zalopony he was a butler esu. member and then there's 10. whole seconds that. pass by before David. King finally puts the final. bullet through. Thomas Crooks fired nine shots? He fired eight shots and then the. ninth shot came from the ground from.

Saloponi. I heard eight shots. So let's just start at the. beginning. Who was Crooks? That's still an unanswered question. My book does have the most. complete biographical. account of crooks, but he's still in aberration. He almost seemed like he was kind of. leading a double life. All the public information. I found out about him. paints him as just a.

really respectable young man, almost, you know, I hate to say it, but like the kind of guy you'd want. your son to turn out to be like. He was a straight-A student in. high school, well-liked by his. classmates and teachers. Graduates with a 4.0, goes to a. community college for. engineering. While there, one of his projects was. actually 3D printing a. chessboard and a Rubik's cube that. were inscribed with.

Braille. His mother is legally blind, so. it seemed like a pretty sweet thing. to do for his mother. I got community. college speeches where he says. one of my favorite things to do is. like cook with my family Loved. his sister katie crooks. And he was planning on going to. robert morris university that. fall to get his four-year. degree That's. the public. As of when was he planning on. going to college?

Oh, that's a great question. Cause it was actually, uh, I. obtained his, uh college emails. and I got one from June. 14th, 2024, where he's emailing the community. college about the status of. his diploma. Cause he had just graduated, but. apparently he didn't get actual. proof. And he needed that to go to Robert. Morris that fall. So less than a month before. he winds up dead on a rooftop, he's asking about. The status of his diploma and.

still making plans to go to. university that fall, which is very. strange. I just don't know what to. make of it. Now it doesn't sound like a man. planning to die, you know? It certainly doesn't sound like a. man planning to die. It's like the death row inmate. asking if he can, you know, save. some for later in his final meal. Does anybody around. him later say, yes, he. was radical and crazy and violent? Nobody that knew him, his father,

the night of the incident, the ATF responds. to the House and they're questioning. him. And he said, well, I didn't. really know much about Thomas's. politics. He liked to play the contrarian. He liked whatever side the. father and the mother would take. He would just be devil's. advocate and argue the opposite. side. He was a registered. Republican, but he made a. donation to act blue like. the left-wing pack. On the day of Joe Biden's. inauguration.

So I guess the theory there would be. if he was left-wing, he registered as a Republican to. vote in the primaries and try to. vote for the weaker candidate, something like that. But yeah, we don't know for sure. Probably the best evidence of. his political leanings comes from. the trove of data that you published. a couple of months ago in your. documentary about the. violent comments and. kind of showed his political. transformation in 2019 and. 2020. But that was when he was like 16, 17.

So we don't really know. what happened those last three, four. years of his life. He started using more encryption, VPNs. Uh, there's not much of. a data trail there. I did obtain his. community college metadata. Uh, what I did there is FOIA it, um, from the college and they. sent me like a big string. of jumbled up code, but I. had somebody who knew what they were. doing kind of decipher it and it.

showed the actual websites that. he was visiting while he was on the. community college campus. It doesn't show the contents of. any of his messages or anything, but he visited. like a Game of Thrones. fan site, he seemed to be. a Pittsburgh Steelers fan, twitter.com, reddit.com. NOTHING! Very unusual. I mean, he went to like ar15.com, but that doesn't really tell you. that much. So yeah, he's a total cipher.

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application times and rates may. vary. The FBI has a lot of this. information, we should say, and has. not released it for reasons maybe we. can speculate about in a minute. But it's fair to say the FBI has a. lot information about this guy. that's not public. That's absolutely right. So when it became apparent last. July that the FBI wasn't going. to voluntarily release. information about Thomas Crooks. or the event, the transparency. organization Judicial Watch.

filed a lawsuit to. force disclosure. And we just got a status report a. few months ago saying. that they had 45,000. responsive records about. Thomas Crooks in response. to Judicial Watch's lawsuit, a couple of months later, we get. another status report saying. we found another 30,000. So now it's up to 75,000. and they started. making monthly productions. to Judical Watch,

but it's like a couple dozen, it's. been four months and it's spent a. couple dozen pages a piece. So like 200 in. total. Out of 75,000. Yeah, so at that rate, we'll all be dead before all. the records are produced. It's pretty egregious. Which, and also pretty revealing, like what is that, right? If it's a crime. committed by a lone gunman who's. deceased, no one. else involved in this case at all,

then that's the official story, then. what would be the motive to hide it? Yeah. I mean, as controversial as. the Epstein files rollout has. been, one of the beneficial things. that the Justice Department did is. just put them all in a word. searchable database. And you'd think they'd be able to do. something like that with. the Crooks files. So people could just type in any. word and it'll pull all the records. with that word on. it. One of Cash Patel's. excuses was.

that, well, Donald Trump. is a victim here and he has. rights too, so. that's why we're not releasing some. of this out of respect for him. But that's not a legal. thing. That's not covered in FOIA. Of course, they could redact Donald. Trump's name, but they can't just. say, oh, because Trump's a victim, we're going to comply. with FOIA, it's pretty ridiculous. And of course, no individual, even president, owns the U.S. Justice system. Justice is effected on behalf of the.

entire country. It's supposed to be a rule of law. and-. Right, that belongs to the American. people. These documents belong to. the America people. The FBI belongs to American people, so that's a nonsensical. argument. It's a grotesque argument, actually. So tell us about that day. So this guy about whom we know very. little, who seems pretty normal, shows up at this Trump rally and. what happens? Yeah, so I guess the story starts. 8 a.m. That morning. There's a secret service.

site counterpart. Her name is Dana Dubre. She shows up and. none of her colleagues. are there. And apparently, there's rumors that. they had been out drinking. late the night before. at a Pittsburgh bar called Tequila. Cowboy. So she's kind of upset that. her supposed ostensible. partner isn't helping her. with the setup. They finally start trickling in. around 10 a.m. And they hold a briefing. And this is the first kind of weird.

anomaly is that. a Pennsylvania police trooper. tried to participate in the Secret. Service briefing and they actually. kicked him out. So it seemed pretty. insular. We don't know exactly why. that is. So the briefing would be. the meeting that law. enforcement has at the beginning of. the day to talk through what they're. going to do and what the potential. threats might be. Yeah, that's exactly right. And I guess one of the reforms to. come out of this whole fiasco is. the, now they hold a unified.

briefing where they let the locals. in, but, you know, a little too. little, a little too late, um, for that. So how. Did Crooks get. there? How did he get in? How did get to this spot? Like, what do we know about all. that? Uh, he first showed up around 10. AM when they're holding this secret. briefing where they're keeping out. the locals and the stateys. and crooks shows up and. apparently he just drives around and. kind of cases out the place and.

he later goes home, uh, to Bethel park, which is about. a 45 minute drive. He lived closer to Pittsburgh, but. there's more out in the country. So, um, yeah, Crooks goes. home. And meanwhile, we have the first. security failure at the. site before anything even happens. The counter drone operator, an agent named Eduardo Castro, just can't get his drone. detection equipment working. He's initially by the stage. He tries to move it.

He thinks it might be some kind of. signal issue. He even calls like a 1-800 number. for troubleshooting. And he doesn't. get it working until about 4. 20 p.m. Which is when Crooks finally. returned. Crooks flies a drone over the. site for about 11. minutes. And this is like 3.50 to 4.01. And then he returns. with the drone and then the drone. detection equipment, it gets up and. working, which is.

an unfortunate coincidence, I guess. What does Crooks get. at his house, do we know? Well, he got his rifle, which apparently belonged to him, but his father was. in possession of it. So he asked his dad for his rifle. and he goes. to a local shop. He buys some ammunition. He also bought a ladder that. morning. And I think a lot of people think. that he got up on the rooftop on.

a ladder, which isn't the case. He actually scaled some air. conditioning unit. And the ladder was found in. Bethel Park in the woods later. So I think what probably happened. there is he bought the ladder, he. went that morning and. cased out the site and realized that. he wouldn't need the ladder. He could use the air conditioning. and then just abandon it in the. wood. And like I said, supposedly. the rifle belonged to. him but the father was possessing it. but the ATF would.

eventually track the rifle. to the father. And the father said that he. sold it informally to. his son a couple of years ago, but. there's no paperwork for that. So the paperwork shows that the. rifle belonged to the father. And I guess there's a loophole in. Pennsylvania state law. where you can transfer long. guns to Pennsylvania residents. can do that with each other without. any kind of paperwork. So we don't know for sure. I mean, that's the story that he.

transferred it, but there is no. paperwork to that effect. How does. crook. How does crooks get a rifle onto the. grounds of a Trump event? It was probably broken down in his. backpack. Yeah, that's, we don't know that for. sure. There is a surveillance. footage that the FBI is. still withholding that would. presumably, you know, shed light on some of these details, like there's an ice cream shop. North of the AGR building. that apparently has footage of. crooks actually even scaling the.

building. But that's just one. of like. Thousands and thousands of records. that the FBI has refused to. disclose. Including the. footage of crooks training. on a local firing range, that might give us insight into how. this kid was able to get off the. shots that he did. Yeah, Clariton Sports Club went. there 43 times in the span. of maybe 10 months. Uh, I did find with. those records that there were four. times where he signed in with.

somebody else at the. exact same time and for the exact, uh, same range. So you could go to the, the pistol. club, uh pistol range or. long rifle range. And every time that somebody else. signed in at the exact same time, they would go to the same range. There was even a day where he went. to pistol and rifle and. this mystery person, it could have. been his dad, but the names redacted. in the records, so. the person that signed in, at the. same time also went to the pistol.

and the rifle. Another interesting thing I found. as far as that goes is again, back to the community college. emails, November 9th, 2023. He actually emails his. teacher saying that he's. going to be late to class. And that was the day that he went to. the range, presumably with. this mystery person and they trained. on pistols and. rifles and. you know, you can go to the range. any time Thomas was.

again, a model student, I think he missed class maybe like. three or four times his whole. career. So, uh, I've got questions. about. Why it was so important. for him to go to the range that he. emailed his teacher and said I'm. going to be late today. Because you were going with someone. else, obviously. Sure, yeah, but you know the deeper. question like why why was it urgent. that day or what why. they needed to go that particular. time? He was at. one point in.

contact with security at the. event, correct? He got a rangefinder. through. Well, he never went through the. magnetometers. or went through security, which is. another weird anomaly is. that he registered through. an encrypted email to get a ticket. to the event, but that he never when. inside. So I don't know what his. original plan was. Again, he might've gone there that. morning and realized like,

well, shoot, this is easy. I don't even have to go through. security. Like there's a clear line of sight. there. But yeah, he never went into the. perimeter. Well, there's nothing like waking up. feeling like you actually got a. restful sleep. Unfortunately, it's hard to do that. That's not a byproduct of just. getting older. It is directly tied. to your hormones, your body. Our friends at Joy and Bloke's are. ready to help you. Bloke was built for men who are. feeling tired of. feeling like a shadow of themselves. and who are ready do something about.

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pretty bad local security. failure. I do believe it was a mistake and. not something intentional. And I could actually show. you, and I'll try to articulate. what's going on here, uh, for people just listening. But... So this is the AGR. building and. a local sniper spots him here. and the local. sniper, Crooks runs off.

when he's spotted and the sniper. says he's going all. the way around the building when in. fact he went into this alcove and. climbed up. So this like 603, all of local law enforcement is. Responding here thinking that he ran. all the way around when in fact he. went in and up on the rooftop, and that was just one of the few. mistakes made by the locals. 603 is when he was first spotted. Well, that's. an interesting question, because. the local snipers.

in that building, there. were three in there and one. of them left around 420. p.m. And he texts his buddies inside. the building and says, there's this guy sitting out on a. parking bench, he's. looking up in the building, I think. he knows you guys are in there, and just flagging this for your. situational awareness. And. It was initially reported in the. wake of the shooting that that was. like the first sighting of crooks.

But then somebody released cell. phone footage showing crooks. walking on the other. side of the site, like over a half mile away. So the question is like, who did these local snipers really. see that they thought was. suspicious? One of them not. one of the snipers, but another one. of the local cops on the ground. His name's Chris Copas. He insists that yes, that really. was Crooks that we saw for.

26 PM. I swear it was him, except he. was wearing pants instead of shorts. But obviously, you know, Crooks. can't be in two. places at one time. So, uh, there was a lot of false. sightings. Um, or. I don't know if they were false. sightings or not, but, uh. another, a Goer said he saw. somebody that looked like. crooks carrying a long rifle. north of the AGR building. And this would have been captured.

by that surveillance footage from. the ice cream shop. And the reason I take. this sighting seriously is. because the rally goer. who says he saw this. was communicating with. a Pennsylvania state police. trooper with a body cam. And so he actually sues to. get the footage of the body cam that. would have shown this young man open. carrying a rifle and he. didn't tell anybody about this. lawsuit. He like didn't want the. attention, but a local.

newspaper uncovered the lawsuit. and found out what he was doing. And, uh, the upshot of the lawsuit. is that the state police said, well, we don't have any footage for. you. Like it doesn't exist. Um, But again, the reason I think. that's a legitimate sighting is. because he didn't want attention. He was actually trying to prove his. case. He's not just like talking, you know? So when was the shooting? What time did he pull the trigger? 6-11 p.m. So, putting aside those.

possibly false sightings or, you know, God knows what's going. on, it's around 5-20. that a local sniper. inside the building again sees. Crooks. This time Crooks has a rangefinder. Now, instead of putting this over. the radio, he texts. some of his local counterparts. including the. command center leader. Butler, ESU commander Edward. Lenz, and nothing's really done because I.

guess they're not checking their. phones. It's not until like 540. that people finally. see like, oh, this is like the. infamous pictures of crooks. sitting on a concrete wall by the. AGR, said he's. lurking around, he has a Change. Finder. And they identified it correctly as. a range finder. That's we've never seen a picture of. the rangefinder, but they say they. found that in crooks pockets after. he was killed. So yeah, I think that's. So if you're trying to protect the. life of the principal somebody and.

someone at the scene has a. rangefinder. Could there be a clear indication of. intent? And the locals did respond to it. accordingly. The local command center. leader, Edward Lenz, says that he called the Secret. Service Command Center, by the. way, they're separate command. centers, which is a huge issue. He talks to a Pennsylvania state. police trooper inside the Secret. Services Command Center who.

then tells the command center. leader, Jeffrey Burr. And instead of putting that out over. the radios though, Jeffrey Burr. then tells the. counter drone guy, Castro about. it. Castro calls some. agents to go search for it, but. they never put it out over their. radios. And this by now is. like 5.50 PM, about 21. minutes before the shooting. So we know Crooks is on the roof. at 603. What happens between.

then and 6 11? Okay. So yeah, Crooks gets. up on the rooftop. Meanwhile, all the cops are. searching north of the. building. Like they don't know. But then a local cop does. spot Crooks on the rooftop. around 6 0 6 PM. says somebody's on the roof. He seems to be running around. Again, they still don't what exactly. to make of this. I don't think they even knew it was. the guy that had the range finder.

Uh, passed on to the local. command center, uh, Edward Lenz. And he puts it out over. channel three at 6 0 8 PM. that there's a guy on the rooftop, it's not. one of ours, but the problem here is it's the. local radios. And specifically he was on a channel. that was only heard by. like the traffic cops. and like some of the people on. the ground who are pretty much. assisting in like crowd control and.

things like that. He never switches over to. channel four to inform. the actual snipers in the building. or his QRF. team that was like ready to. deploy in response to emergencies. instead he Again. calls the Secret Service Command. Center and. here's where things get especially. controversial because He. said Len says that he calls. the PSP trooper in the Secret. service center and then they.

both inform Jeffrey. Burr. About somebody's on the rooftop now. Burr claims that he never heard. this. So I've been kind of called. Jeffrey Burr, Jeffrey a. deaf and dumb Burr because he never, he says he never heard anything and. he never put anything out over the. radios even though now. obviously the threat. has escalated. We should point out that Trump's on. the stage at this point. He took the stage at 602,

which is exactly. You know that sighting the crooks. where they think he's running around. but he goes up top. So things are getting serious. And at some point, people in. the crowd beneath Crooks notice. him up there. Yeah, people notice him. up there like around 608 and. they're watching the. locals kind. of frantically scramble around. seeing how they can get up on the. rooftop. And yeah, it's kind of a spectacle. and even some people inside. the perimeter start to notice the.

commotion going on by the AGR. So then, um, a local cop tries to get on the. roof, what happens and when. Yeah, so while all this is. transpiring, Detective Collins, Tyler Collins, is actually. at the Butler police station, maybe a mile away. And he's hearing all this chatter. and he's, I guess he's a relatively. younger and fitter guy. So he decides to go. assist in the chase.

He drives directly to. the AGR building. And, you know, this is seen on body. cam, He has one of his buddies. Boosts him up to try to. get get up on the roof he. gets up there he looks. he says he saw crooks. crooks swivels his rifle. at tyler collins. collins drops down and. now he says the person. on the roof is armed now now we're. probably talking like 30 25. seconds before the shooting.

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or visit americanfinancing.net. slash Tucker, America's home. for home loans. So one of the most interesting, I. mean, it's minor, but it's. interesting facts of this is that. Crooks is on the roof, he's. surprised by a local cop, aims his. rifle at him, then pivots. and starts firing within. 30 seconds at. over 100 yards and hits. Trump's ear, famously. That's pretty, that's like biathlon. level shooting in that there's. clearly lots of adrenaline.

It's a quick turn and. you see all these people on TV. Oh, that an easy shot. That's not an easy for a man. filled with adrenaline. He's just been confronted by a. police officer. Like that's. someone who is. either like remarkably. cool under pressure or who's. done a lot of training. Yeah. Crooks, uh, from what I. can tell was a really. good shot. Um, this wasn't his. training at Clariton sports club. He also took a pistol course at, I think it's called like the.

Keystone range out in Pennsylvania. And there was one other guy. who was with the class in the class. with Crooks. He's called by the FBI a couple of. days later when, um, you know, the FBI finds that Crooks was. training here. This guy gave an interview and said. that Crooks once shot a. target in the same spot with. a nine millimeter so many times that. he blew a hole out of the target. So yeah, Crooks was really good. And you know, I've heard you talk on. your previous podcast about.

this with Sean Davis. Yeah, that's an incredibly difficult. shot under that pressure situation. where you see a local cop, you know coming up to get you. and you have to focus. And, you know, keep your breathing. under control. And, and he came within millimeters. I'm really struck by that. So then he sets. in place, he's prone, he lying, and he gets off eight shots. What happens to those bullets? The first one grazes.

Trump's ear, the. second one flies over Trump's. shoulder, and this is. the Pulitzer Prize-winning photo. taken by Doug Mills where. Trump's beginning to bring his. hand up to his ear, which is really strong evidence that. this was like a legitimate shooting. and that the bullets were real. Unless you want to make the argument. that the New York Times are in on. the conspiracy that this is staged. Uh, but yeah, it shows the bullet. and it also shows that Trump doesn't.

have any kind of squib in. his hand that, you know, for the. fake blood. Um, but in any event, yeah. So the second one whizzes by. his shoulder and I'm pretty sure. that's the one that hits David. Dutch, uh, who was one. of the wounded rallygoers. Um, it actually, I. think split his liver. It was a pretty, pretty nasty shot. Uh, the third one, I'm not. sure about it was the second. volley. Of five that one of.

them hits the firefighter. Corey Comparatori and. then Jim Copenhaver. who generously wrote the. forward to my book. He got shot twice and. one of those bullets is still. in his body. It's like too close to the spine. I think he's in his mid-80s now, so they can't really extract it. So four people are hit by bullets, including Trump. Yeah. Uh, yeah, that's, that that's. right. Initially, this is weird, uh, Ronnie Jackson, who was once Trump's.

physician. Now he's in Congress. I think he initially said that like. my son was grazed or something, but we haven't heard anything about. that. I, I really don't know. what happened there, but we know for. sure of these, uh these. four people. The man who was killed, who is he? Corey Comparatori. Yeah, he was a firefighter, a family man, a girl. dad. He had two girls, a loving wife, Helen.

By all accounts, just like an. upstanding member of the community, the kind of guy you'd want to be. friends with, the kind of guy that. you'd entrust with your life. Just a real tragedy that we lost. him. So that, there's been a lot of. speculation about this being staged. It's fake. There are, you know, theological arguments for this. that come out of the Old. Testament. Apparently there's a. part that suggests, you know the. pricking of the ear is necessary for.

a prophecy to be fulfilled, etc., etc. There's a lot to talk about. this. What's your view of that? Yeah, the same people that make that. Biblical argument or prophecy. argument also says that he. wasn't really shot, so I don't. really understand that if his ear. has to be pricked, but he didn't. get shot in the ear. It's hard to really argue. with the people who think it's fake. because I haven't really heard a. coherent theory for how it. possibly could have been staged. I mean, as we've discussed,

the local response to. the would be assassin was very. much. Legitimate. The bullets were real, the blood was. real, the bodies were real. This would require the. complicity of the Biden. FBI, Biden's secret service. Keep in mind that he's. under investigation at the time or. facing prosecutions. I'm sure he's surrounded by FBI. informants. They're probably listening to his. calls. I don't know when he.

would have been able to plan. something like this. And then. One of my favorite pieces of. evidence that I found in the. transcripts of Congress. interviewing the local cops is. that his. personal physician was actually. left behind in the chaos. when he was shuttled off the. stage and taken to Butler Hospital. So he had to have been examined by. a Butler doctor who. then, because his personal position.

was at the farm show, they. take the Butler doctor on Trump. Force One. To the next site. I think it was New Jersey. So I would imagine that if this was. a staged event, it would have been something like he. keeps his own doctor. close to his side. They go to Butler Hospital. They say, no, nobody's allowed to. see Trump's ear for national. security reasons. But that wasn't the case. It was actually a local doctor who. initially treated him and he would.

have had to been in on it too if. this What? Well there are three other people. shot so I. mean it's hard to if it. was fake you know no one told. them yeah right yeah so. okay I think that the. evidence suggests it was entirely. real someone was trying to kill. Trump how. did the Secret Service respond. They really didn't respond. Again, we. can go more into the failures. leading up to it. I mentioned Jeffrey. Burr, who by the way,

he's the command center leader. And by the, he's also the special. agent in charge of the Buffalo. field office, which I. found a little bit strange. I don't know much about the inner. workings of the secret service, but. it was kind of bizarre to me that. this 25 year veteran, or 25 year veteran. Charge of an entire jurisdiction. He's now just a poststander. manning the radios. on the ground for. a rally outside of his jurisdiction.

I think the argument was there was. that they were short staffed. and needed help and he's a senior. guy who knows what. he's doing. But of course, he. makes a lot of the key mistakes. by never putting anything out over. the radio. Another Secret. Service blunder was when... They did call the. secret service counter sniper. response agent who. is like the agent on the ground. that the snipers can say,

hey, go check this out and he'll go. run over there. And then, you know, he's kind of. like the eyes and ears of the snipes. on the rooftops. He goes to search. for crooks when. they're notified of the rangefinder. and he's actually turned away. by another agent. Uh, which is really inexplicable. And this agent, uh, said like, Oh, we have the AGR. building covered. There's people searching for the. suspicious person, go to the. south of the stage and look.

there, which didn't make any sense. because everybody knew the action. was happening by the A.G.R building. Um, but again, the granddaddy. of them all is the fact that the. secret service sniper waited. up to 23 seconds. before responding. I say 23 seconds. because we have footage. of him looking. through his scope before. the shooting starts. He actually had, you. know, he's looking through the.

scopes. I don't know if he had. crooks a sight or not. But he was looking in that. direction. He was looking in that direction and. yeah, I listen to your. And this is after eight shots have. been fired. This is before any shooting started. Right, but I mean he, the FBI sniper, waited long enough that Crooks fired. eight times before he was taken out. Yeah. And the eight shots happened. in five seconds. He waited an entire, another 10. seconds before. he put that final 10th. shot through, uh,

Crooks and you. know, I could give him the benefit. of the doubt. Maybe he wasn't prepared. Uh, he panicked, he had Crooks in his scope, the local cop shoots Crooks, Crooks. staggers back and now he's got to. readjust. However, his congressional testimony. is very troubling. The sniper initially tells the. house task force that. he didn't see crooks.

until after all. the shooting had stopped. He said he was like on his. binoculars. The shooting started. By the time he finds crooks in. his scope, crooks had already fired. eight times. Then he tells a. similar story to the Senate Homeland. Security Committee, but a staffer I don't know who. this is, but the staffer is heroic. He pulls out, this is almost like a. Perry Mason moment. He pulls the sniper's own notes that. they apparently got.

as part of a production from the. Secret Service. And he says, well, you know, David, your own notes. after the incident says that you saw. Crooks quote, low crawling. with an AR-15 into. position and that you had seen him. before, before. the shooting started. I actually, I have. The exact notes, this. is what the sniper, David King, wrote immediately after the. incident, quote, I and my teammates. positioned ourselves to observe that. area that everyone was moving to.

I noticed an individual white. male, white or gray shirt, low crawling on the roof. I noticed a AR style weapon. in his hands. As I moved to observe through. my rifle scope, I heard. weapon fire. I immediately got a laser. rangefinder distance from my weapon. mounted rangefinder. I looked up to see my engagement. scope, looked back through the. scope, observed the individual. shooting and engaged. So there's a major contradiction.

there. I'm not. necessarily suggesting that he. waited on purpose. I think, again, I think he might be. covering his ass because as. we discussed before, Trump views him. as a hero and. maybe he just doesn't wanna admit. that he did. Where is that sniper. now, David King? Uh, he's still, uh, I, I believe he's still on Trump's. detail because again, after the. white house correspondence, dinner, uh attack, Trump.

goes, I tell David, I love you, David, like acting like David's. his hero. Um, and by the way, that's how we. were able to identify him. Uh, He had, he is on local police body cam. footage with his patch that says. D King. And then Trump says, I think he first told Miranda. Devine about a year ago that his. name is David. So Trump almost kind of outed him. I searched David King's. Secret Service.

A LinkedIn immediately pops up. showing this guy in the Special. Operations Division of the Secret. Service, I reached out to. him, he declined to comment. And reporter Susan Crabtree. has since corroborated. that identity, the David. King name. But he still works there. Again, yeah, I think Trump. expresses appreciation. for him. Was anyone fired? Kimberly Cheadle resigned, the former director resigned under.

bipartisan pressure. Uh, there were five or six. suspensions that all came. Most of them came from the local. Pittsburgh field office, even. though, um, they, they were kind of thrown under. the bus in my opinion, but no, nobody was actually fired. Nobody was fired. Unless you count Cheadle, but. that's, uh, again, she resigned and she has, I. don't know if she still has secret. service protection, but she was. given, uh tax fair.

taxpayer funded security. after she was fired, uh I guess, you know, for the threats or. whatever. Cause people thought she. was in on it. So what happened next? Trump gets shot, he leaves, he goes. to New Jersey with the local doctor. What happens to Crooks's body? Uh, that's a great question. Crooks's body was actually. left on the rooftop until. 6 AM the next morning. And instead of taking him to the.

Butler County coroner, he shipped to. Allegheny County. Um, I guess we've. gotten conflicting explanations. Uh, I Guess Alleghenie County is. where Pittsburgh is. They have more advanced facilities, but then I also heard they took. Corey comparator's body to. Alleghanie County. Because the press was. at the Butler County Coroner's. office and they. wanted to avoid the press attention. Brooks was shot once, correct? I think the local cop hit him.

first. Yeah, I definitely think, uh, the local cop hit them cause you. keep in mind. Crook stopped shooting after the. local cop fired, uh there's. some speculation that, uh. Aaron's all a pony might've. hit the buttstock. of the gun and shattered. it, uh but the thing is. that the X-ray. of crook shows that there's. bullet fragments still in his. shoulder. Ballistic experts have told me.

that that 300 Win Mag. final shot wouldn't have fragmented. like that. The Secret Services 300 Win. mag round went through Crooks'. neck, out, back in the. shoulder. Then it fragments into two. pieces and makes two. re-exit wounds. They actually recovered those. fragments. It's this material. on the shoulder. That was left in there, actually the. body was released for cremation. with the fragments still in the.

shoulder, which seems like a. mishandling of evidence, but what do. I know? How quickly after. this event was his. body cremated. I believe it was released for. cremation a week or two. after and we didn't find. out about this until Representative. Clay Higgins went to go look at. the body and they said, well, you. know, Mr. Higgens, the body doesn't. exist, they gave it to the funeral. home. How would you assess the. thoroughness of the autopsy?

Well, the medical examiner who. did the autopsy insists. that Aaron Zalepone didn't. hit crooks, which I just think all the evidence. points to the contrary, not only the. bullet fragments, but reason would. dictate that the shot did. something because, you. know, because he stopped shooting. after Zalopone fired. So there's that, there's. the releasing the body, I. would argue prematurely.

But the biggest question I. have is about this toxicology. report, which I obtained, which by the way, obtaining this. report was kind of a, I guess, interesting story, at least to me in. itself, because this was kind my. first big scoop in late 2024. when I got these documents. When I found out that the body was. taken to Allegheny County, I requested it from them and. they said, well, Uh, we did the autopsy and the. toxicology, but this is Butler.

County jurisdiction. I then asked Butler County for it. and they denied it too. It was almost like they're pointing. at each other playing shell games. with the evidence. I went through a couple. of months long, uh, legal battle. to get these documents and. then, um, actually got them in early. October and put them up on our. website, headline USA. Uh, so that was a big scoop, but I. didn't think much of the. documents. They didn't really seem to show any.

scandal to me at first until. a Twitter sleuth notified. me a couple months later and said, if you looked at this toxicology. report, it seems incomplete. And I'll show you exactly what I'm. talking about. So. The medical examiner, Ariel Goldschmidt, collected eight. specimens from. Thomas Crooks, four tubes of heart blood, a tube of urine, some eye. fluid, bile, and.

then an envelope of hair. And now these are numbered one. through eight. And now if you look at the findings, You have one the heart blood. one two. and then it's four, five, and six. But there's three specimens that. Goldschmidt and the medical examiner. collected and either. didn't test or. didn't include in the report. That's the bile, one, two of blood, and the envelope of.

hair. So I don't know what to. make of it again, but these samples, you could argue they would have. shown evidence of some. kind of Perhaps psychotropic. drug use? I don't know. Has he explained, the. medical examiner explained why he. didn't test or there's no record. of him testing? No, when I found. out about this, I reached out to him. on numerous times, including his lab. assistants too, and they haven't.

given any answers as. to why this is. Um, and that it kind of is the. question that hangs over all of. this. Why are there no answers in. a case that according to the. government is open and closed. lone gunman, crazy person. killed by heroic secret service. sniper. No accomplices. There's no reason to hide anything. Do you have any idea why. the FBI is continuing. to hide information about. this case? Well, I hope you- I was hoping you.

could tell me, I- I-. I have some theories about it. I mean, Joe Kent said it's directly. related to, he believes. directly related to our. war in Iran, you know, can't prove that. But I, but just. to establish clearly that they are. hiding it, you've gone. presumably to the Justice Department. to ask for this information. What answer do you get? In fact, I did a FOIA. request for all the 302s in. this case, the day after. Cash Patel said about a year ago.

that the investigation is closed, crooks acted alone, nothing more to. see here. So, oh, okay, great. The investigation's closed. Now they can comply with FOIA and. make all this stuff public. I filed my FOIA. and get a response about a month. later saying, we're not giving you. these records because in fact, the. investigation's still open. So it seems to me as they're playing. legal games with these. documents, they've sensed. Cash Patel has changed his tune and. said, well, the investigation is.

open, but not active. And in my mind, that's. just an excuse. they're using to avoid disclosure. So at the root of all of this is the. question of Trump and his, you know, he was the target of the. assassination attempt, which you. have said that I agree with. He was. real. Like someone tried to kill. him, missed, killed somebody else. But if the president wanted. this investigation to.

continue, it would continue, correct? Presumably, yeah, maybe in his first. administration, you could argue that. he didn't have total control. over the deep state or. whatever. But now, yeah. He's got loyalists installed. in most of the key positions. So, yeah I don't see any. possible excuse for. why. Right. So it's not, it's not. just that, you know, cash Patel's. incompetent or damn Bon Gino's. incompetant. This is a statement of fact, Trump.

shut down the investigation into. Butler. So he shut down. the investigation into his own. attempted murder. And I think that's the most. shocking facts to come. out of this Trump term, because. I don't see. a non-sinister explanation. for that, but maybe you have one. No, I mean, it's just total. speculation, but sometimes. I wonder, did they stumble onto. some sort of like MK Ultra program? I don't know. Is this, are they threatening.

Trump's family? Um, it does. And this is why, like, I don't get. too mad when people think he's. faking it because he's so tight. lipped. You know, you can't. blame people for. speculating. I think that's exactly right. It doesn't make any sense at all. Are there any pieces. of evidence that you have seen that. suggests that crooks acted. in concert with anybody else? I've seen nothing explicit.

No, there is, there's some unanswered. questions about what happened on. July 13th, 2024 that. might point to others being involved. on the scene. Of course we have the false. sightings of crooks. Like if they saw somebody. that looked like him, there were. numerous such cases. So I have questions about that. And then, uh, the bomb. squad Allegheny County bomb squad. initially responded to. a van that was parked about.

a half mile away from the site. and the series of. events, um, raise raises. questions in my mind. Um, you know, Crooks is dead up on. the rooftop. They find a transponder. in his pocket that. they believe might be used to. set off IEDs. They evacuate the rooftop and. after that point, the locals are. never involved in the crime scene. again. It's totally controlled. by the FBI. They're searching underneath,

inside the building with bomb. sniffing dogs. And at one point they find blood. in the building, which I guess. a local trooper climbed. over a fence and cut his hand and. then got blood everywhere. They find a bicycle with. a backpack. That wasn't Crooks's, but they. initially assumed it was. And most interestingly is. this van. They searched the van with the bomb. squad and tow it away. And we haven't heard anything. about this since.

And this is before they searched. Crooks' car, which is parked, it was parked right on the. street by the AGR building. So I have questions of why they. searched the Van. Uh... Before the car i did a foil. on the van and was told that yes as. it was part of the investigation but. uh... Again i was denied actual. records about it. Is there proof that. crooks constructed bombs or a bomb? Yeah, they eventually found. bombs in the.

trunk of his Hyundai Elantra. and this was after. they searched his home and. found some empty. ammo canisters and some racing. fuel and other bomb making equipment. in his bedroom. That led to the search of the car. supposedly. But again, I don't know why it's van. or house car. But we do know he made bombs. Yeah, we know for sure. And in fact, one of the community. college emails, the only one that.

showed any possible evidence that. he was planning this is him. ordering racing fuel. from a company. Um, I think almost everything. he did would have had to have been. on his encrypted emails, but. this one order he places through. his community college email that. does show him in January, 2024, ordering. a racing fuel. Which is used to make like for, uh, info bombs of the same. material that McVeigh allegedly. use in OKC.

Uh, so like, yeah, a little, little tiny miniature info bombs. found in his trunk and. in the. But we have no idea why. he made these bombs or what he. planned to do with them. Yeah, my speculation is that. again, he probably planned. an attack that. day. Maybe again, I can't. get inside of his mind, but maybe he. showed up thinking that I'm going to. do a bombing and then realized. that, wait, no, I could do a. shooting instead. I don't know. He might've had. multiple possible.

plans because the bombs. weren't even set to go off. in the trunk. Like even if he pressed the button. on his transponder, he would have. had to flip. Switches to activate the bombs. inside of the trunk beforehand. So yeah, I don't know really. what to make of that either. Has his Google search history ever. been released? Uh, other than the limited release, uh, well that you. got from. Well, I didn't release anything. I got that from a source who got. it himself outside the.

federal government. Yeah. No, nothing. We've gotten assertions, like he apparently Googled how far. was Oswald away from Kennedy. He Googled RNC, DNC, Joe Biden, Donald Trump, but nothing that would really. shine light on the details that. matter. Did they claim he was transgender. too? Uh, no, they never claimed he. was transgender. I think, uh, there were. rumors about that.

At one point the dad asked his son. if he was gay, but that's just cause. he didn't have a girlfriend, but no, this wasn't a trans. type thing. Okay, shortly after there was. widely publicized. claims that Iran. had something to do with this. Were those real? What was that? Yeah, I saw you actually debating. Ted Cruz about this like a. year ago saying there's no evidence. that Iran. the government of Iran.

Yeah, the government of Iran tried. to kill Trump and, and. Ted Cruz is like, actually, yeah, they hired two. hit men to take out Trump in 2024. Well, those hit men actually turned. out to be undercover FBI agents. And there was never any serious. threat to Trump. It appears to be totally controlled. sting operations. You know, at the very least, if not an actual plot. to manufacture a phony. case about Iran.

So what happened here is. a Pakistani man named. Asif Mershan was arrested. July 12th, 2024, the day before Butler. And when the case was announced in. August, everybody automatically assumed. that it had to have been linked. Somehow. But if you look at the details, again, it's a totally controlled. sting operation. They were actually monitoring. Merchant before.

he even entered the country. And I think some intelligence may. have been passed through. Israel. That's what the New York. Times reported a. couple months ago, and so did Max. Blumenthal. Information was passed through. Israel. What does that mean? I, uh, yeah. I don't information about. the Iranian plot against. Trump came in part from Israel. The New York Times specifically. reports that the initial. intelligence came from. Israel. But the thing is, is these, I.

would argue again, phony cases have. been, there's. been years of them. The first such case was. John Bolton in 2022, where the DOJ announced that. Iran tried to assassinate him. And it turns out it was just some. guy in Iran talking to an FBI. informant the. The informant took photos of. Bolden's house to try to. pretend to be like conducting. surveillance. Bolden had full knowledge.

and was consenting to all. this. They announced an indictment, but of. course the defendants in Iran, so it's kind of like the Russia. indictments where they never have to. prove this case. It's almost just like a big. press release. So, I mean, presumably considering. that Trump launched a war against. Iran in February. of this year, if there was. evidence that Iran was involved in. this assassination attempt, the. Department of Justice would be. pursuing it vigorously and. publicizing it in order to.

backfill a motive for this war. People have used the Merchant. case as evidence that. yes, there was some. sort of threat, but you got to. measure a threat by both. intent and capacity. And here there was absolutely no. capacity. Like I said, they let Merchant. into the country in April 2024. on purpose as. part of the sting operation. A reporter named John Solomon. actually had sources tell him that. this was similar.

To Operation Fast and Furious, where the ATF was allowing. illegal gun purchases to. supposedly track where these guns. were going. Apparently the Biden administration. was doing that with humans, where they're like letting. terrorists into the country on. purpose to supposedly track where. they are going. So. Murchance led into the country and. a leader at a local mosque. Connects him to a. driver because he doesn't speak.

English, doesn't have a car, doesn't. any means. So supposedly a friendly guy is. driving him around just because. that's part of their culture. They're trying to help each other. But this guy turned out to be an. FBI informant and. he's actually a Afghanistan, an Afghan who. served in Afghanistan. as a translator for the U. S military. And the story about how he became an. informant is unclear because. in the DOJ's.

indictment, they say that. he heard what Marchant was. plotting and he went to the Feds. and flipped and became an informent. And I could see your face, you'd. probably find that dubious. We found out in court that. the official story changed, supposedly now he says that. he's driving Marchant around. He sees unmarked cars following. them everywhere they go and. he's worried because of his.

experience in Afghanistan that. maybe some. Taliban is out to get him or. something like that so he happens. to have the card of an FBI. agent in his pocket who. supposedly he had like a friend who. died a few years earlier and he. got a card from an FBI Agent. from then he. calls the FBI and says I think. I don't know, the Taliban's out to. get me or something. And they supposedly fill. him in on the operation saying, no, we're monitoring Murchant because.

we think he's dangerous. Will you work for us? Will you just kind of be our eyes. and ears. and go along with whatever. he says? So again, this is the official story. that came out in court. He agrees to become an informant. Him and Murchat have a. meeting. In a hotel room in early. June that's wired for. surveillance. And keep in mind that Merchant has. not proposed anything.

related to the assassination. or otherwise illegal at this. point, but there are already. full-fledged surveillance of him. He sketches out some. plan that looks like a 10-year-old. would have drawn it about, yeah, this is the target, how will it die? Again, this is all in Urdu, so. we just have like an English. translation of what was said. And I think like the vape, like he. had a vape that he put down. and like this is the target. So again, not really sophisticated.

stuff. The informant then. introduces him to. two undercover FBI agents, the guys that Ted Cruz was. arguing to you that were. hitmen. The hitmen, the agents, take Murchant. to a strip club. And they have some kind of vague. conversation about. possibly either. assassinating politicians, stealing government documents or. staging like a protest.

Marshant tells them, you. know, visit me in Pakistan. in September and. we'll give you the, the official. target. They want the undercover FBI. agents want him to make a down. payment to show that he's serious. and he. is trying to get $5,000, trying to scrounge it up from his. family. Initially, he's turned. down by his family in Pakistan. and eventually. finds, I guess, cousins in Tanzania.

who are willing to. front him $5000. through the Huala system. Where he can pick it up in New York, but borrow on it in Tanzania. So the FBI informant actually. helps him do this. The informant picks up the $5,000, gives it to Marchant, who then. gives it to the FBI agents. Like instead of the informant just. giving it, you could see they're. really trying to set them up. And then it's when he.

is trying to leave the country. on July 12th that he's. arrested. He's not Iranian, by the way, just. to restate, he's Pakistani. Yeah, that's right. He supposedly. has a, um, uh, family in Iran. and, uh we should, you know, steal man the other side. and when he's arrested, he was. interrogated. And he did say. that, yes, uh I. was working for Iran to. try to do something.

He wouldn't admit to the Trump. assassination plot. So we could definitely, it's not. like as egregious as the Whitmer. plot for the supposed government. kidnap plot, uh, where they're just. They weren't even looking to do. anything, and it was totally. provoked by the FBI. You appear to have a. somewhat willing defendant, but. again, absolutely no. capacity, no. means, no money, can't. even speak English, surrounded by feds,

like there was definitely no true. Relationships. and no relationship to Butler that. we know of. Uh, no, no. I've heard Joe Kent ask that. question. Like, well, was Murchant. in touch with crooks? Um, he didn't even. speak English. So, and I don't think he was playing. with a full deck of cards. Um, so I, yeah, he definitely wasn't. Joe Kent's also asked, was the. informant in touch with Crooks? And I think that's a far more. interesting question.

Uh, but we'll probably. never find out because there's. classified. information in the Merchant case, over 1.6 million pieces. of evidence that not even. Merchant was allowed. to look at. There's something called the. Classified Information Procedures. Act, which says, well, if discovery. is classified, not even the. defendant can get it. So it's not a real trial. No, it was a total show trial. And bizarrely again, they trot.

out all this dubious evidence, but. on the last day, Merchant's attorney allows him. to testify. And again, he says that, yes, uh, I. was working for Iran. So he does think that. And I guess he said he was acting. under duress. So, but it was pretty much just an. admission of guilt. It's something that he should have. said and during like the plea deal. proceedings and not, you. know, on the last day of his trial.

And so, yeah, I. have a hard, I don't know really. what to make of that. It seems like Legal malpractice, to be frank. Don't let him say that. Yeah, well it's not uncommon to see. defendants in cases like this. represented by lawyers who are. acting against their interests, which is interesting, I've seen it a. number of times. Yeah. And so that may be part of. the whole performance, but I. don't know. And just to steal me, I guess. I've argued with people online. about this and they say, well,

even though he didn't have any. capacity, we knew because. of what he says, that he thinks he. was working for Iran, uh, that Iran was plotting something, so. why not let him into. the country, uh just to. make this case and stick it to Iran. and you know, there's a couple. of responses to that, I think. foremost it's like, while the. FBI is constructing Fomenting. this case they let crooks. and ryan ruth totally slip under. their noses um,

but even More. importantly, I don't think anybody's. really realized that is this case. Arguably is what almost got trump. killed um because. The uh, the reason that. the secret service snipers were sent. to butler was because of a so-called. iranian threat uh. the head of Trump's detail, Sean Curran, was briefed. about an Iranian threat and. he's getting briefed on the Mershon. case a week before Butler and.

they decide to send Secret Service. snipers to Butler. as a result. It was the first time that a former. president has ever had Secret. Service sniper protection and. the first that year that. the Trump campaign had. Secret Service snipers and. I would argue that If that. phony Iranian threat never. sparked, you know, the notion. to send secret service snipers to. Butler, that it would have been. local snipers up on those barns. behind Trump, instead of the.

guys who waited 15 seconds to. respond. And I could almost guarantee you. that the local response would have. done better because. the locals, they would have. and on the local radios. That's another thing about the. Secret Service snipers at Butler's. They did not pick up the local. radios that were. Where's Sean Curran now? He's actually the director of the. entire agency, which. again is a totally baffling. decision. So that's kind of the context that. piques my interest.

I mean, I do think whenever you, I. mean you've been a reporter for a. long time, you know that when. you press down on one specific. story, you find anomalies, things. are impossible to explain. You also find coincidences that are. just bizarre, but maybe they really. are coincidences. But big picture, it's truly crazy. what we're looking at. So here you have Trump, two. days before the Republican. convention, he has not yet chosen a. running mate. Everyone in, everyone in,

up for consideration is a neocon. except for JD Vance, okay? So, and so that's when the. assassination attempt takes place. before Trump has chosen a running. mate, a vice president. The second this shooting happens, you see a bunch of high profile. endorsements of Trump, and shortly. after all of his legal problems go. away, and ultimately in very. short order, Trump becomes not just. a neokon, but like the leading. neokan in the world. Way more of a neocon than like. Bob Kagan and Bill Kristol ever. were.

And so you see a complete change. in Trump and in. official Washington's. view of Trump, like people who. didn't like Trump endorsed Trump. after this. And then you see Trump appoint the. people who effectively allowed. this to happen by their incompetence. at best to positions of. greater authority. And then, you see, Trump shut down. the investigation into the shooting. According to reports. Am I? Heh heh. Like, what the hell? You're exactly right. And according to reporter Susan.

Crabtree, I guess Sean Curran. is a. favorite of Suzy Wiles, which I. don't know why Suzy Wiles would have. the power to keep or. promote him to be Secret Service. Director after he was pretty much. But it's about Trump though. I mean, it's like. If you had bodyguards who were. supposed to protect you with their. lives, if necessary, and they. allowed, again, by their. incompetence at best, somebody to hit you in the ear with. a two, two, three round, you'd.

say, these guys. have to go. Like you failed. Your one job is to keep a sniper. from shooting me at me and. you failed, but instead of. doing that, Trump promotes the guy. I have no good answer for you as far. as that goes. I mean-. It's formatted by it. Especially considering what happened. after, where Trump gets effortlessly. elected and then becomes this crazed. neocon, he becomes the. one thing he said he hated. There's a total change in Trump.

It is worth mentioning that Susie. Wiles and Sean Curran were both. involved in what I would argue like. a Psi-op on Trump to make him. think the Iranians were out to get. him. And this is after the Ryan Routh. event. They actually tell Trump that the. Iranian's have smuggled missiles. into the country and they want to. shoot down your plane, which there's. absolutely no evidence for that. I mean no actual documentation, no witnesses, no arrests were made. Is that word true? The war would have started a lot. earlier, but in any event,

they actually put Trump on. a decoy plane with. I remember. Yeah, they used Steve Witkoff's. plane and him, Witkooff. and Suzy Wiles would ride. in Witkof's plane while the. staff were serving his decoys. on Trump Force One, which I'm not. sure how they would feel about that. But I mean, it was pretty crazy. Like if you look at the reporting on. this, the staff would be going to. Trump Force one and the Secret. Service would be like, Oh, keep your. head down. Like acting like,

like a threat was out there. Like it really This seemed like a. total psy-op to me. Bizarre. Preparatory to this war, of course. I would think so, yeah. I mean, you can make the argument. that Trump was already. an Iranian hawk, but this certainly. didn't help. You can't make the argument that. Trump was in favor of a regime. change war with Iran since he was. explicitly against a regime-change. war with Iran, like, for a decade. Yeah, that's certainly what he said.

Wasn't there rumors that he was. about to launch a war in the last. month of like his... Of the first term? First presidency, yeah. Well, those, yeah, I mean, those were more than rumors that he. was under a lot of pressure to. do that, but the fact is he didn't, and then he spent. his campaign in. the 2024 race arguing. against regime change, were. attacking people who were in favor. of it, and then, he launched. it, and not just launched it. but became this kind of. enthusiastic tool of the government.

of Israel. So, I means, maybe those are all. organic Changes of heart. Uh, but he's never explained how. or why, and the. demarcation, the change point, the. pivot seems to be the. shooting. Yeah. Who's Ryan Ruth? Ryan Ruth was the. second would-be assassin and this. happened on September 15th, 2024. Just over two months after Butler, Trump's golfing on.

his Palm Beach golf course. He's on the fifth hole and. the Secret Service is doing an. advance on the next hole and an. agent spots Ruth hiding. in the bushes with an SKS. rifle. The agent. initially thinks this is a homeless. guy until he sees a rifle pointing. right at him. He shoots five times at. like point blank range about from. five or 10 feet away. Misses all five times, but causes Ruth to flee.

Yeah. Yeah, I've, you know. He missed him five times at close. range? And presumably the Secret Service. officer had a rifle too. It's not like he pulled out his. pistol or anything because he's on. the advance, probably armed and. ready. So, wow, I didn't know that. Yeah, another security failure. Well, an embarrassing one, too. Yeah, I guess he gets credit for at. least not hesitating. But again, the gun's pointed at him. But he did cause Ryan to.

flee. Ryan's caught 45 minutes. later in another. He actually got away? Yeah. Yeah. And so this isn't the Secret Service. that caught him either. And he could have been at large, this could have been another like. Tyler Robinson situation with. the Kirk case where he. gets in to his daughter's nesonic. stare and speeds off. And it was actually a witness who. heard the gunshots and took down. Roos license plate and. gives it to the Palm Beach.

sheriffs who then put out a. warning, be out on be on the. lookout for this Xterra. and Ruth is pulled over on the. I-95 in another. county. And this is- No way. Yeah. Yes. Again, like he had an. escape plan. Well, how did the Secret Service. agent allow, if he's that. close to him, why. didn't he chase him down? That's, we've got even less details. about the secret services. actions at.

Palm Beach than we do, um, from Butler. So I, I don't know, I, don't have an. answer to that question. So then what happens? So they arrest the guy. Here's where the most tragic part. of the whole incident happens is. that there's a bunch of traffic. backed up on the I-95 due to. this unexpected arrest and. a lady slams. into the backed up traffic with. her three-year-old daughter in the. back seat. The daughter was put into a coma And. has permanent brain damage as a.

result. So Regardless. how you feel about Trump or anything. else like it's it's. very sad and a lot of people. Actually think Ruth is. kind of like a clownish buffoonish. guy But I don't have a whole lot of. sympathy for him because this. narcissism led to this little. girl's permanent brain damage. So what do we know about Ryan. Ruth? We know a lot more about him. than we do about crooks. I mean, by like midnight. of that day,

people had already dug up articles. about him being in Ukraine. and recruiting foreign. fighters. The FBI holds a press. conference the next day. and says that we. actually did receive a tip about him. in 2019 that he. was a felon in possession. of a firearm. We didn't act on that tip, but. we're trying to be forthcoming. and, you know, we'll do better. in the future, I guess, is what. they were trying to present.

But it's actually far, far worse than that. One of the things I did, because. I live close to where Ruth grew. up in Greensboro, I pulled. local police reports about these. criminal incidents from the early. 2000s. It turns out that he was actually on. the ATS radar since at. least 2002. He was a construction. worker and he. owned a construction firm, he had. gotten into a dispute with.

illegal immigrants who he was. hiring. Apparently he wasn't paying them. He threatens one with a 410. shotgun. They wrestle the shotgun away from. him. He gets in his truck and. escapes and almost runs over these. workers of his. They The the. workers call the police and. the police respond and then they. find that Ruth was like. possessed in possession of dynamite. illegally and.

They put him in jail while he's. in jail. Uh, somehow he gets a. cell phone in there. He calls, uh, somebody who was helping him run the. business and says, get rid of. the dynamite we have on the other. sites because, uh. they're about to probably search. those sites too, uh. prison snitch tells the. police about this. He gets charged with having that. dynamite too. He gets let out on bail about. six months later.

He's in a police, uh, he gets pulled over, he's got. a machine gun in his passenger. seat. He runs away from the police, gets. into a standoff. Um, and finally, after. a couple hours, he was arrested. again. And the upshot of that is. that after all that he was only, uh. given probation. Uh, but this case was reported to. the ATF, which declined to. take any action. How did that guy wind up, I think you said recruiting foreign.

fighters in Ukraine? Yeah. So can you recruit. foreign fighters in Ukraine without. the knowledge and participation of. US government authorities? Well, he certainly had knowledge of. it. Uh, and again, yeah, career. criminal, just to put a. bow on that he's charged again. with a scheme of paying. crackheads to steal, uh, stuff from construction sites. gets caught in. 2010 with like. $30,000 worth of stolen.

equipment. That triggers a probation violation. from 2002, but that gets waived the next day. and then he gets another round of. probation. So very bizarre of how. his cases were handled. But to answer your question, I don't know how he became so. politically radicalized. In 2016, he was a Trump supporter. 2019, he briefly jumped on. the Tulsi Gabbard bandwagon. And then when Putin invades,

apparently he felt like, you know, he had to stand up for global. freedom or democracy or something. like that. So he winds down his construction. business, takes a. flight to Poland, tries to. cross the border and volunteer. to serve in the international. Legion. He's a 58 year old construction. worker with no combat experience. So they say, no, we can't really. make use of you. So he turns to. recruiting foreign fighters,

as you say. Little interesting factoid in his. self-published book, which is still. available on Amazon. He said his best partner, quote, best partner in this venture was an. Israeli guy. I was never able to track down. who that partner was. This is all so crazy. Yeah, it is, it's absolutely crazy. But if you're, I mean, if you've got. an extensive criminal record. for violent crimes and. you wind up in Poland trying. to join the Ukrainian.

foreign legion and then recruiting. foreign fighters like CIA. knows because they're running. Ukraine and the war, they know you exist to their, I'm. mean, of course. Yeah. And he was in an Azov. battalion commercial, which of. course Azof was sponsored by the. CIA. The Nazi battalion. Yeah. The Nazi battalion. Um, he was flagged by. multiple people. At one point, I think I counted. seven federal or. international agencies that. were aware of what he was doing.

because a travel nurse, I think her name is like Chelsea. Walsh, initially reported. him to the FBI, the state department and customs. and said, Hey, this guy's got. really dangerous rhetoric and he's. doing sketch sketchy things. He was reported to Interpol. A former CIA officer named Sarah. Adams flagged him, too. So of course the CIA was. aware. And this State Department actually. opened up an investigation for him.

violating international arms. trafficking regulations. Not that he was trafficking in. actual arms, but that also covers. the human fighter element. of it. So there was actually an open State. Department investigation at the. time. Of the September. 2024 assassination attempt. So in September of 2024, Trump was telling. me and everybody else that I'm going. to end this war between Russia. and Ukraine and I can do it. I can't do it in one day. And I know Putin and I know Zelensky.

and I can do this. This happens on. his golf course, fast forward. now almost two years. and Trump has done nothing to end. the war and in fact has kept it. going with American tax dollars to. this day. We're lying about it, but. that's a fact. And. That's like a big change. No, yeah another. broken promise. The guy who is in an. Azov battalion commercial. tries to kill Trump with an SKS.

rifle, and then lo. and behold, all of a sudden, Trump. is for the Ukraine war. It's bizarre. I don't think Ryan was explicitly. told to do this. Uh, cause keep in mind, he was. put on trial and he actually. represented himself. And I think at any time he could. have blurted out, well, Hey, you. know, the FBI told me or whatever. I think it's a little more subtle. I did talk to a lot of people who. knew him in Ukraine and. I think he was very easy. to be influenced.

Uh, he was around a lot of. virulent anti-Trump people. At one point, I'm talking to a guy. who knew him. This guy thinks like the Russia. P-tapes are real. Hey, he goes off on a tangent to me. about how he wants to punch JD Vance. in the face. So it's like these type of turbo, turbo liberals were. like Ruth's friends over. there. And moreover, this isn't like. your wine drinking aunt that hates. Trump. These are more high. status people. Live. They come from money. They have state department.

connections. Ruth probably thought like, oh, these are really important people. I could be a hero. They hate Trump. I could save the. day by doing this. Uh, that said the. biggest anomaly I have that. suggests something darker is. the fact that Ruth had been travel. or been camping at. the golf course for. about 11 hours before the. shooting actually happened. And if you read the house task. force, final report,

Trump actually made a last minute. decision to go golfing. And the secret service was. informed at 2 a.m. And look at the state search. warrant. It says that according to. geolocation data pings, Ruth showed up at like 2 30 a. M. No way. And that, yeah, that's. Are you serious? I'm absolutely serious. Did Ruth at trial ever explain. why he, since Trump hadn't. been planning to golf, decided. to show up at 2.30.

a.m.? That was never explained. Actually, Ruth represented himself. and the trial was a. disaster. So we didn't get any. helpful information. I mean, during his opening. statement, at one point, he goes off. on a tangent about like the. importance of human rights and. democracy. The judge says, Mr. Ruth, this has. nothing to do with your case. If you keep doing this, you're going. to forfeit your own opening. statement. He says, you know, yes, Your Honor. Immediately delves right back into. the same tangent, and he forfeits.

his opening statement. So it was a real shit show is that, there's also classified information. like the Merchant case, there's. classified information in. the Ryan Ruth case, and Judge Cannon sealed. the information. on the grounds that it could quote, harm national security. Now, why would. a multiple convicted felon. construction worker who. tries to murder the Republican. nominee have classified.

national security-related. intelligence anywhere. near him? I assume there's probably FISA. involved, perhaps, you know, surrounded by. informants. So just to... Go back to the. question of the class of. information. I'm just, I'm Just baffled by this. What could that possibly, why would. Ryan Ruth intersect? You said Cicid FISA. I'm not sure what that means. Can you explain that a little more? Yeah, sure.

So again, like the Marchant case, there was classified discovery in. the Ryan Ruth case that's subject. to a law called the Classified. Information Procedures Act, which means that you. as a defendant don't have a right to. your own discovery if. it's classified information, even. if it harms your case. And I think the SEPA law. was passed the late 70s. and at the time there was very. select usage of it. It was still like protect overseas.

informants and to. protect certain FISA information, but increasingly with the advent. of text messages and. chat groups, the DOJ. is just using it to hide. things. They might have an informant. overseas, but that person's. life isn't in jeopardy. It's just all chat room stuff. They might also be orchestrating. crimes. And there's major, major scandals that. this classified information. procedure law has been used to.

cover up. Just to name a couple, the Pulse. nightclub shooting where. the shooter's father, Omar Mateem's. father was an FBI informant, the shooter himself may have been. an informant too, and that's. according to Trevor Aronson. But classified, the SIPA law was. used to. The granddaddy of them all, in my. opinion, is the Garland, Texas. shooting in 2015, where there were two people who were.

allegedly upset at a. draw, the Prophet Muhammad contest. They went there to shoot up the. contest, which was like at a local. fair, I think. And they were stopped right away, but there was a third guy who was. behind them who went to run away, the cops arrested him, but it turns. out that that was an undercover. Agent who are friends who was. friends with the you know, the. supposed terrorist and. And also in that case, I don't know if it was the same.

agent or another informant actually. told the shooters. to quote, tear up Texas. So it was a clear case of. provocation. And to top it off, they. had guns that were purchased at. the lone wolf gun store. that was involved in Operation. Fast and Furious and. Pat Con, which was like this. undercover operation in the 90s. So that's that's a really dark one. It's so dark, but what. makes the two assassination.

attempts that you. wrote a book about different is. that they, I think, changed world. history. My suspicion is that the changed. world history and that they changed. Trump. The President of the United States. So if you, and I know this book is. in some ways like a list of. unanswered questions, but if you could pick. some number. of top questions, the most pressing. questions that the Department of.

Justice could answer, the Trump. administration could answer but. won't, what would they be? First and foremost question I have. in my mind is why. did this sorry to keep harping on. this? But why did the Secret Service. sniper wait? Up to 23 seconds before responding. Why does he have contradictory? Testimony. And this is the one Trump is. complimenting in public. That's right. Yeah. And so July 14th, some, you know, Crooks' body is. still on the rooftop chop and.

Susan Crabtree reports. and she, this is like a great. reporter. She's very deeply sourced. in the secret service. And she was told that the, um, the snipers were. given instructions that you can't. respond to a threat until that. threat actually fires their weapons. This report. from Crabtree sparks outrage. People are like, that's preposterous. How could they have to wait until. the threat actually starts shooting? Until the principal gets killed. before they respond. Yeah. And then the.

secret service denies it says that's. not true. They were not under these. instructions at all. And again, total speculation, but safe. to say that Crabtree was really told. this by a legitimate source. I think they were almost like trying. to float an excuse out there. and seeing like AB testing. and seeing if the public would buy. this when the public acted. like this is the craziest thing. ever. They walked it back. And then we just haven't gotten any.

good, uh, answer, you know, pretty much. But that's your number one question. is why did the Secret Service. sniper wait 23 seconds after. the volleys two different volleyes. eight shots have been fired and one. that hit Trump three other people. killed one he did not. respond. That's the number one question and I. would follow it up by asking if. that's the number one question why. is this the number one guy Trump is. complimenting praising. a year and a half.

later. Your guess is as good as mine. I mean, that's just bizarre. It is. It's incredibly, incredibly bizarre. I mean, I don't think this Aaron. Zalopony, the. local heroic cop who actually. shot crooks, like if I were Trump, I would make July 13th, Aaron's. Zalapony day, but he doesn't even. acknowledge this guy's existence. I mean, so on one level, it's just kind of sad. and a little bit disgusting that. he's not honoring the true. heroes. But, you know, I think. you're suggesting, you know. something more disturbing going on.

I'm suggesting a. known fact pattern that has. no non-sinister explanation. that I can think of. That's all I'm saying. I mean, trust me, I've brought. this to a lot of different people, like, what is this? Very knowledgeable people. And I've never had one person say, well, actually, what you're missing. is this. Here's why Trump shut down the. investigation, which he did, fact.

Obviously, but it is also fact. I've I've, I know it. and. So I've never had any person say, you know, don't jump to conclusions. actually there's a good explanation. I still don't see and you just wrote. a book on it. You don't say one. either. No, absolutely not. No. Another big unanswered. question I have has to do with this. seemingly incomplete toxicology. report, which I hesitate. to mention this because. I don't know the significance.

of this, but the person who wrote. this report, the medical examiner. in Pittsburgh who autopsied. crooks, released the body for. cremation with fragments and still. side, insisted Zalopony. never hit him. Then either doesn't test. certain specimens from crooks. or didn't put them in his report. This guy is actually a dual Israeli. citizen who was. in Israel after October. 7th, helping identify. the bodies there.

So, you know, again, actually, actually. Yeah. This is in the front page of like. the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle. He's actually pictured. He's standing next to a guy named. Chen Kugel. Who is an Israeli and. a source of a lot of these dubious. claims about beheaded babies. And Goldschmidt's standing right. next to him. I guess he volunteered. and went over there to help. And again, I'm not. he is a dual citizen. He is a dual citizen. Yeah, that's correct.

And he's the medical examiner who. did at best an. incomplete job with the. autopsy, or of. the report anyway, of Crooks. Yeah, that's a hell of a 9 or. 10 month run for his. career to go from, you know, responding to October 7th to. autopsying crooks. And yeah, again, I'm not necessarily. suggesting anything, but because he's such a key player, we do need to know. And he is not the medical examiner.

that victims, dead people in Butler. Township, Pennsylvania would. normally go to. Uh... No not at all i mean again the. excuse was that they had more. advanced facilities but then they. do this kind of run of the mill. autopsies and talk to the fire. So the fireman who was killed at. Butler went to the local medical. examiner, but Thomas Crooks went to. this medical exam, or the dual. citizen. Well, actually, Corey Comparatory. was taken to Allegheny County. as well, but they've.

got contradictory excuses where they. say they took Corey there to avoid. the press attention at the Butler. office. And then Thomas was supposedly sent. there for the. more advanced facilities. The facilities that allowed. him to be cremated with the. fragments still in him and. didn't list the. testing of his hair. That's really, really interesting. And he has not spoken to you, this medical examiner. No, he hasn't.

He did testify at an open. hearing where, uh, Clay Higgins pressed him. Uh, Clay Higgens, you know, say what. you will about him, but I think he's. been pretty good on this story. He's the only guy in. government who's emphasized. Aaron Zalopony's heroics. and Higgings is trying to press. Goldschmidt about like, how could. you possibly say that, um, Zalapony didn't hit anything. and, uh Goldschmitt just insisted. The Secret Service was the only. person who shot crooks that day.

That's really bonkers. Um, okay. So those are your top two questions. My top question is why the secrecy? Do you have any theories on that? Just total speculation. Um, you know, I do. think Crooks was probably. almost certainly. manipulated, possibly in. contact with the feds, you know,

based on these violent comments. that you disclosed a few, uh, months ago, you know, openly calling. for assassinating politicians on. YouTube, that gets you flagged to. law enforcement. So there could be some kind of cover. up telling like, Mr. Trump, if this. is revealed. It'll be the end of the FBI. You can't do this. You have to keep your mouth shut. Could be something darker. I don't know. Do you expect that. you'll be like the last guy. to look into this? Cause that, cause the, the coverup.

or the secrecy or the. studied lack of curiosity. doesn't sort of end at the justice. department, it extends into the. media, like what is this? Like, however you feel about Trump, everyone has an opinion. It's just an amazing story. And I just don't know why I'm. ending where I began. Why are you the only guy doing this? I thought, yeah, I thought that was. probably one of the biggest stories. to happen in the last five years, you know, outside of the wars and. things like that. And so it's been.

really puzzling that I don't have. much competition nor do I have. much interest. I mean, you're again, you are one of. the only guys keeping the story. alive. So I'm hoping that. the book, you know, unfortunately, it doesn't have like. a big smoking gun. This is the guy who did it or this. is the institution behind it. is the best in most. Complete picture of what. happened. I'm hoping it could be a. starting point for future. researchers, people who. want to jump on board and.

help find out, you know, some of the answers to these bizarre. questions we have. We'll probably both be long dead. when someone, you know, writes the. book. I hope that's wrong, but. that's tends to be the way this. stuff plays out. You know, it's a hundred years after. the Lusitania and it was like, actually there were armaments on the. boat. The Trump assassination plots, what the investigations missed and. why it matters. Ken Silva, thank you very much.

for doing this. Thanks again.