Real Clear Politics White House reporter Susan Crabtree has detailed multiple working theories regarding the assassination attempt on Donald Trump last Saturday in Butler, Pennsylvania. These theories include the possibility that the assailant was planning a mass casualty event and that his initial target may not have been the president. Crabtree reported that the shooter, Thomas Crooks, left a message on a gaming platform stating, “July 13 will be my premiere, watch as it unfolds.”
“IMPORTANT SECRET SERVICE DEVELOPMENT,” Crabtree posted. “I just talked to a well-positioned source in the Secret Service community who confirmed reports of agency intelligence gathering that supports a theory that rally shooter Thomas Crooks was likely planning to take out people in the crowd in a mass Vegas-style shooting and wasn’t initially planning to attempt to assassinate Trump.”
Crabtree added, “He changed his mind after he was scrambling to escape police and climbed onto the roof. When he saw that nobody was on the roof and he had a clean shot at Trump, he went for it. No one can completely get inside the shooter’s head because he’s dead. But high-level sources within the Secret Service are convinced that he was planning to shoot at the crowd because he used his range-finder on the ground first and was trying to escape police when he scrambled onto the roof.”
“I’m also hearing that he assembled the gun from parts in his backpack once on the roof. I’m told he DID NOT use the range-finder on the roof — maybe why his shot at Trump was off and the fact that he failed to get into or got cut from his high school shooting club.”
Community notes on the post attempted to debunk this theory, stating that the shooter brought his own ladder and scope and was initially flagged by the Secret Service because he was carrying a rangefinder. Other reports indicate that Crooks had been under law enforcement surveillance up to an hour prior to the shooting.
In light of the new information surrounding the attempted assassination of Trump, the House Judiciary Committee has called for FBI Director Christopher Wray to testify before Congress about the investigation into the incident.
Whistleblowers have disclosed that the USSS had “limited resources” for the Trump rally, as many agents were assigned to the NATO summit in Washington, DC, earlier that week, according to the Judiciary Committee. The security lapses leading up to the assassination attempt have cast doubt on the reliability of the federal agency, with many calling for the resignation of USSS Director Kimberly Cheatle.