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Today, the aftermath of the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump: a breakdown of the assassination attempt, and initial theories about the gunman. Via our friends at the Associated Press & The Epoch Times.
Highlights
A Breakdown of the Assassination Attempt Against Trump
It started at 6:02 p.m. with former President Donald Trump taking the stage in Butler, Pennsylvania. Ten minutes later Mr. Trump was lying bleeding on the stage and shielded by Secret Service agents.
Why It Matters: An attempted political assassination of a former and potential U.S. president impacts the world.
FBI Found ‘Suspicious Device’ in Shooter’s Car, Investigating Attack as Domestic Terrorism
The FBI has provided background on its investigation of the would-be killer of former President Trump and what else he may have been trying to do. Officials said they don’t have a motive yet, but did find a suspicious device in the dead gunman’s car and continue to work with his family as the investigation continues.
Why It Matters: Many questions need to be answered, including what the shooter’s motive was, and how he was able to nearly kill a former president.
FBI Investigating Attack as Act of Domestic Terrorism
The FBI said a ’suspicious device,’ which was later defused, was found in the assailant’s car.
State and local police block off roads surrounding the home of the suspected shooter of former President Donald Trump, as the FBI carries out an investigation, in Bethel Park, Pa., on July 14, 2024. (Rebecca Droke/AFP via Getty Images) Joseph Lord
FBI officials say they believe the would-be assassin of former President Donald Trump acted alone.
The agency is investigating the attack as both an attempted assassination and an act of domestic terrorism, officials told reporters in a call with news media on July 14.
The new details emerged less than 24 hours after the United States saw its first major assassination attempt of a president or presidential candidate since President Ronald Reagan was shot in 1981.
Authorities have identified the shooter as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, a resident of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania. At a Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, the assailant fired several shots from an elevated position near the venue. Witnesses saw a man with a rifle on the rooftop of a nearby building.
Former President Trump’s right ear was pierced by one of the bullets before he was rushed to his car by Secret Service agents. However, one of the attendees at the rally, 50-year-old firefighter Corey Comperatore, was killed. Two other rally attendees—identified by Pennsylvania State Police as David Dutch and James Copenhaver—were injured.
Both of the injured attendees are in stable condition, according to Pennsylvania State Police, which did not provide further details on their injuries. A GoFundMe effort established by the Trump campaign for the victims and their families had raised more than $3 million usd/ $4,090,000 cad as of the evening of July 14.
FBI Investigation
The FBI has not yet identified a motive. The assailant’s family is cooperating in the investigation, officials said.
Biden Says He’s Directed an Independent Review of Security at Trump Rally
Attorney General Merrick Garland called the assassination attempt on the former president “an attack on our democracy itself.”
“[The Justice Department has] no tolerance for such violence, and as Americans, we must have no tolerance for it,” Mr. Garland told reporters. “This must stop.”
The agency said a “suspicious device” was located during a sweep of Mr. Crooks’s car. It was later defused by bomb technicians.
FBI Director Christopher Wray vowed that his agency would “leave no stone unturned” in its investigation of the attack.
“An attempt to assassinate a presidential candidate can only be described as absolutely despicable and will not be tolerated in this country,” Mr. Wray told reporters.
Earlier on July 14, President Joe Biden said he asked that the investigation be “thorough and swift.”
FBI Director Christopher Wray testifies about the bureau’s budgetary needs during a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing in Washington on June 4, 2024. (Allison Bailey/Middle East Images via AFP via Getty Images)
Prior to the attack, officials said, the perpetrator wasn’t on the FBI’s radar as a potential threat.
The FBI’s screening of the shooter’s social media presence has so far revealed no ideology or political beliefs that could have been his basis for the attack, officials said.
The FBI has received more than 2,000 tips so far, they said.
Officials believe that the rifle used in the attack was a semi-automatic rifle similar to an AR-15.
Kevin Rojek, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Pittsburgh Field Office, told reporters that the weapon belonged to the shooter’s father, who purchased it legally. It’s still unclear how Mr. Crooks got his hands on the rifle, or if his father was aware that he had taken it.
“These are facts that we’ll flesh out as we conduct interviews,” Mr. Rojek said.
Speaking from the White House, President Biden said the assassination attempt was “contrary to everything we stand for as a nation.”
“It’s not who we are as a nation, it’s not America, and we cannot allow this to happen,” he said.
The president said that he had a “short but good conversation” with former President Trump on the evening of July 13.
The former president, meanwhile, was due to arrive in Milwaukee for the Republican National Convention on July 14, as originally planned. He said in a social media post that he had wanted to delay the travel in the immediate aftermath of the attack, but ultimately decided against it.
Secret Service officials confirmed on July 14 that no changes have been made to security at the convention, which starts on July 15, noting that the event has already been given the highest-grade security.
“Currently, there are no known articulated threats against the RNC or anyone visiting the RNC,” Michael Hensle, special agent in charge of the FBI for Wisconsin, said at a news conference.
The Secret Service has refuted claims that the 45th president’s security team requested additional security for the July 13 event and was denied.
“This is absolutely false. In fact, we added protective resources & technology & capabilities as part of the increased campaign travel tempo,” Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi wrote in a July 14 post on X.
Former President Trump, in a statement on July 14, thanked his supporters, saying of the attack that it was “God alone who prevented the unthinkable from happening.”
The former president made a call for unity, saying, “In this moment, it is more important than ever that we stand United, and show our True Character as Americans.”
Former First Lady Melania Trump, in her own statement, called on Americans to “ascend above the hate” and “simple-minded ideas that incite violence.”
“When I watched that violent bullet strike my husband, Donald, I realized my life, and Barron’s life, were on the brink of devastating change,” Ms. Trump wrote.
She said that she was “grateful to the brave Secret Service agents and law enforcement officials who risked their own lives.”
Over on Capitol Hill, lawmakers are vowing their own investigations into the matter.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said Congress will probe if there were security lapses at the rally.
“We need to know: How could an individual be at that elevation that was seen by apparently bystanders on the ground—how could that not be noticed by Secret Service?” Mr. Johnson told NBC’s “Today” on July 14.
In a July 14 letter to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mark Green (R-Tenn.) revealed several pieces of information, including the security plan that was in place on the day of the shooting. The Secret Service falls under the umbrella of DHS.
A DHS spokesperson confirmed receipt of the letter.
“DHS responds to congressional inquiries directly via official channels, and the Department will continue to respond appropriately to Congressional oversight,” the spokesperson told The Epoch Times in an email. For the Silo, Joseph Lord.
Unless trust is restored, the FBI’s Mar-a-Lago raid may begin the “collapse” of U.S. law enforcement, according to police expert Michael Letts.
Over the past few years, the FBI has acted politically often enough that many Americans now struggle to trust it, Letts said. He runs In-Vest USA, a nonprofit that provides bulletproof vests to police departments.
Without explanations, acts such as the Mar-a-Lago raid create distrust between local and federal law enforcement, he said. They also create civilian distrust for law enforcement in general.
“Mar-a-Lago is just another nail in the coffin,” he said.
U.S. law enforcement runs on trust, according to Letts. Without trust, the system collapses into “Third-World status,” where police serve power instead of enforcing the law.
“Then, you have coup d’états, you have overthrows, riots. And then, whatever power happens to win at that particular day tries to solidify. The forces that it controls run out and eliminate everybody that’s not on their bandwagon,” he said.
Lack of Transparency in Politically Sensitive Case
The FBI made several decisions at Mar-a-Lago that could catastrophically damage trust in law enforcement, Letts said.
First, the raid itself shouldn’t have happened, he said.
Presidents often take many documents with them when they leave the White House. Often, staff accidentally pack at least a few secret documents by mistake. Most of the time, the federal government doesn’t punish this mistake, according to Letts.
Trump’s predecessor, former President Barack Obama, turned over 30 million documents to the National Archives.
“More often than not, they look at and realize [the document] no longer needs to be classified anymore,” he said.
But the FBI raided Trump’s home for the documents.
The FBI also refused to let Trump’s lawyer observe the search. Without someone else present, law enforcement could potentially plant fake evidence or steal a suspect’s property, Letts said. This has led many to now wonder whether the FBI demanded secrecy for alleged misconduct.
“They should have never provided fodder to the American people to have these kinds of questions,” he said.
Finally, FBI and DOJ leaders have failed to provide the public with a clear explanation as to why the raid had to happen.
In-Vest USA CEO Michael Letts. (Image courtesy of In-Vest USA)
Although the government released the warrant and receipt for property taken, these things didn’t provide enough of an answer, Letts said.
Since then, reports have been spreading about an internal FBI and Department of Homeland Security bulletin, leaked in part by CNN, NBC, and CBS, of an increase in bomb threats made online to law enforcement and officials following the Mar-a-Lago raid.
If the government truly wants to calm the situation, it needs to provide a full explanation, according to Letts.
“We need straight and direct answers,” he said. “We need congressional leadership. It needs to be a bipartisan effort.”
Trust: Cornerstone of the American System
The distrust from the FBI raid doesn’t only affect politics, Letts said. It also affects the inner workings of law enforcement.
Law enforcement agencies have to cooperate to do their work, he said. Federal and state police often join forces for investigations.
In these investigations, trust is crucial, according to Letts. If the FBI and local police don’t trust each other, they can’t cooperate.
Even law enforcement on drug dealing will fall apart if the FBI and police don’t trust each other, he said. If the FBI targets conservative politicians today, it might target anyone tomorrow.
“Is there something else behind the scenes? You’re willing to lie on FISA reports to courts. Are you willing to lie about this?” he asked.
The FBI’s Mar-a-Lago raid will also cause the public to distrust state and local police, as most of the time, the public doesn’t see the difference between local police, state police, and federal law enforcement, according to Letts.
“If anybody’s wearing a badge—sheriff, deputy, city police—they all get mixed into the same boat,” he said. “And now they all get vilified.”
In the past few years, law enforcement’s trust foundations have been weakened from a number of events, Letts said. Some media outlets have villainized them for alleged racism, which the police deny, during deaths in custody, while some city councils have cut their budgets. Officers faced immense pressure from all angles during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many police officers have resigned; few are recruited.
“They’re having to pull extra shifts. They’re at the highest stress rates. I mean, look at their divorce rates. They have some of the lowest morale we’ve ever seen in history,” he said of the police.
At some point, the “thin blue line” will snap, according to Letts.
“Who will they call when somebody is banging on their door to try to break in?” he asked.
We hope you enjoy our coverage! As you are visiting us today, we’d like to ask you one question — How much do you think news media outlets actually impact your life? …Probably more than you realize. For the Silo/Epoch Times, Jackson Elliott.
Featured image: Protesters gather in front of the Federal Building in Los Angeles on Aug. 13, 2022, to voice anger over FBI’s Mar-a-Lago raid. (Linda Jiang/The Epoch Times)
