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| Trump shooting investigation (AP) |
Donald Trump yesterday agreed to sit for a victim-impact interview with the FBI regarding the apparent assassination attempt against Trump on July 13 in Butler, PA. As we have previously reported, the official story of the assassination, which largely was constructed by Trump himself, is filled with holes, so it will be interesting to see how forthcoming Trump is with the FBI. Our guess is "not very," if he can find a way to disclose as little as possible about the incident. A date for the Trump interview has not been disclosed.
Under the headline "Trump agrees to be interviewed in FBI’s probe into assassination attempt; FBI agent says agency eager to get ex-US president’s ‘perspective on what he observed’ during July 13 rally shooting Al Jazeera reports:
Donald Trump has agreed to be interviewed as part of an FBI investigation into the assassination attempt against the former United States president, an official said, as questions continue to swirl around the campaign rally shooting.
Kevin Rojek, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Pittsburgh field office, said on Monday that the agency wants “to get [Trump’s] perspective on what he observed.
The former president and Republican Party 2024 presidential nominee has agreed to sit for a standard victim’s interview, which “will be consistent with any victim interview we do”, Rojek told reporters.
Trump, who has been highly critical of the FBI, was shot in the ear during a July 13 rally in Pennsylvania, spurring widespread condemnation and questions about what security measures were put in place before the event.
Witnesses say the alleged gunman, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, had taken up a position on a rooftop with a direct line of sight of the rally stage. One rally attendee was killed and two were seriously injured in the incident.
During Monday’s briefing, FBI officials said they had yet to identify a motive for the shooting.
But they said Crooks had conducted online searches into prior mass shooting events, improvised explosive devices and the attempted assassination of the Slovakian prime minister in May.
A picture is emerging of Crooks as an intelligent, methodical loner who took steps to conceal his activities related to Trump. Al Jazeera reports:
US lawmakers have pressed the country’s law-enforcement agencies to explain their security protocols ahead of the Trump rally shooting, which the FBI has said it is investigating as an act of “domestic terrorism” and an attempted assassination.
Last week, FBI Director Christopher Wray said during a congressional hearing that the agency will leave “no stone unturned” as it looks into what happened.
A day earlier, Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned amid widespread pressure over the incident.
“I take full responsibility for the security lapse,” she said in an email to staff. “In light of recent events, it is with a heavy heart that I have made the difficult decision to step down as your director.”
Cheatle admitted the Trump shooting was an "operational failure. From AlJazeera:
The US Secret Service chief has admitted to Congress that the agency failed to prevent the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump at a July 13 campaign rally in Butler County, Pennsylvania.
“We failed. As the director of the United States Secret Service, I take full responsibility for any security lapse,” Director Kimberly Cheatle, who faced Republican calls for her removal, said on Monday in testimony before the Committee on Oversight and Accountability in the US House of Representatives.
“The assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump on July 13 is the most significant operational failure at the Secret Service in decades,” Cheatle said.
“There clearly was a mistake, and we will make every effort to make sure that this never happens again,” she said.
The shooting at an outdoor campaign rally wounded Trump in the right ear, killed one rally attendee and injured two others.
The suspected shooter, 20-year-old nursing home aide Thomas Matthew Crooks, was killed by law enforcement. The motive for the shooting is not clear.
Cheatle said Crooks had been identified as “suspicious” before Trump took the stage but had not been deemed to be a “threat”.
Bob Ayers, a former CIA officer and international security analyst, told Al Jazeera that Cheatle “dodged” many of the questions the committee asked her.
"I was in Washington for 20 years, and I’ve even testified before the Senate … when you go before a congressional committee of any sort, you are briefed to no end by your staff,” he said, adding that Cheatle “walked in like she didn’t know what was going to be asked, and so she tried to stonewall”.
Al Jazeera’s Shihab Rattansi, reporting from Washington, DC, said that despite evading many of the questions, Cheatle did provide some information.
“She did confirm that the FBI had informed the Secret Service that the gunman had used a drone in the area”, as well as that he had brought in a range finder – a small device to measure distance – that wasn’t a prohibited item, Rattansi said.
Why would Cheatle stonewall on questions posed by members of a Congressional committee? That is one of many questions hanging over this investigation.
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