There are still a lot of questions that need answers after the failed assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump. How did the shooter get past security and onto the roof? Did the Secret Service designate it as a prime possible sniping location? How was there a ladder there? Were there any guards at all? Why didn’t the police act sooner? Is it true that counter-snipers weren’t assigned to the rally until the day before?! What was up with Trump’s female Secret Service bodyguards? Is the head of the Secret Service – whose previous employment was at PepsiCo – qualified for the job? But there was one thing that should be clear: We came dangerously close to another JFK moment. Glenn notes that while President Biden and the media insist that we shouldn’t jump to conclusions about the killer’s motives, it’s clear that he wanted to take out the likely GOP candidate for president.
Transcript
Below is a rush transcript that may contain errors
GLENN: So let me begin with the news.
On July 13th on Saturday, former President Donald Trump was targeted this an assassination attempt, during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania.
It occurred just after 6:10 p.m. while Trump was delivering a speech. Let me give you the time line. 6:10 gunfire erupted as Trump was speaking at the rally. Trump reacted immediately, crouched behind the lectern, as his Secret Service detail shielded him.
6:15 p.m. Secret Service identified and neutralized the shooter, his name is Thomas Matthew Crooks, who was firing from a rooftop, approximately 150 meters from the stage.
That makes that with a rifle, a very easy shot. 6:20, Trump was escorted off the stage, transported to a medical facility for a minor why are where he was treated and later released. 6:30, law enforcement began securing the area, and investigating the scene, finding additional explosive materials in Crook's car and at his home. President Biden then returned to Washington early, and political reactions to the incident started to emerge.
Now, here are the key details: The shooter was Thomas Matthew Crooks. He's 20 years old. From Bethel Park in Pennsylvania. He used an AR rifle. Managed to reach the rooftop of a nearby building unnoticed.
Hmm. That's not exactly true, according to those in the crowd. But at least unnoticed by Secret Service.
Reports suggest Crook had a complex political background being a registered Republican, but donating to a progressive PAC. We'll get into all of this in a minute.
The immediate response was a clown show. The Secret Service's counterresponse team responded swiftly, according to the facts.
Killing Crooks and preventing further harm. Did they, though?
The incident highlighted potential security lapses and the prompted calls for a thorough investigation into how Crooks could secure access, or to access a secured area, unnoticed by Secret Service, but noticed by the crowd.
Questions have also arisen about the effectiveness of the Secret Service measures, whether adequate precautions were in place. There are allegations and denials regarding the denial of additional security requests by Trump's campaign.
The political reactions are just sick. Now, those are the facts, as we know it.
Now, let me tie a few things together. If Trump would have been killed on Saturday, we would be at Civil War today.
We would have seen for the first time, the president's brains splattered on live television. And because of the details of this, I have a hard time thinking it wouldn't have been viewed as JFK 2.0. If you think that there were conspiracy theories on the grassy knoll. Let's look at this one.
How does someone sneak a rifle on to the grounds? How does someone even know that that building is there?
How is it that he was acting so weird and pacing in front of the metal detectors. They tried to follow him.
But oops. He got away.
How could the kid possibly even think that the highest ground at the venue wouldn't even be watched?
My first guess, would be, hey. That's the one place I shouldn't crawl up to with a rifle.
Because they're most definitely going to be there.
Why wasn't anyone there? Why wasn't anyone watching it?
Nobody except the shooter decided that the highest ground with the best view, and a handy ladder just happened to be there, was a great place to catch?
And nobody in the Secret Service, none of the drones, none of the things we pay millions of dollars for, none of that caught him?
How did he get a ladder there?
If the ladder was there, was it always there? Why is the ladder there?
They weld manhole covers closed. When a president drives down a road. How was there a ladder sitting around, ready to climb up on the highest ground at the venue, and the Secret Service failed to at least take it away?
There is plenty of video, and eyewitnesses. People were yelling, that there was a guy with a rifle, climbing up on a ladder to the roof, for at least 60 seconds.
More like 120 seconds.
Before the first shot was fired.
Why were the police just looking for him?
Why -- why were they just looking at him?
Why did the sniper have him in his sights for over a minute, before he took a shot? Why did a cop climb up the ladder to look around? When the guy pointed a gun at him, he then ducked down and came down off the ladder.
Did he call anyone, to warn?
Can we check to -- if the cop who climbed the ladder saw the shooter with the rifle.
Because this is the same story, that we had in Uvalde. Is he a Uvalde cop? Do we know?
How is it the Secret Service has a -- a body guard, literal body guard, who is a woman, that doesn't even reach Trump's nipples?
How is she going to guard the president's body? With hers?
How is it another female Secret Service agent pulled her gun out, a good four minutes too late?
Then looks around, not knowing what to do. And then couldn't get it back into the holster, because she's a Melissa McCarthy body double. I don't think it's a good idea to have Melissa McCarthy guarding the president.
Let me ask you this: Who trusts the FBI with the shooter's computer?
Will his hard drive get filed with the Nashville manifesto? How is it that they -- they almost didn't have snipers at all, but they got them, the day before the -- the rally, because everything was going to be put on Jill Biden.
I want Jill Biden safe.
I want Jill Biden to have what the first lady should have, for security.
But we are almost 40 trillion dollars in debt. You can't hire a few guys to make sure our candidates are safe?
How is it that we have a Secret Service director, whose experience is literally guarding two liters of Squirt and Spicy Doritos?
Did you know that's her background? Yeah. Yeah. She's in charge of the United States Treasury's secretary service, and her last job was head of security for Pepsi.
How is it they're allowing, you know, randos just to carry guns around the RNC convention now.
But, no. Really, Republicans are going to get the sternest letter written. It's going to be different this time. The letter is going to -- they'll underline stuff, and they will put bold sentences in. This is a game, and that's what makes this sick.
This is a joke. There are members in our country that actually thought that it was okay to post themselves screaming about how this guy was incompetent, how do you miss that shot?
Do you realize how close we came to another JFK? If the president hadn't have turned his head, at the exact moment, it would have gone into the center of his head. And we would be a different country today.
Now Joe Biden is also saying that we shouldn't make assumptions about the motive of the shooter. Well, I think we can assume one thing: He wanted to kill the Republican candidate for president. Can we agree on that at least? Can we assume that?
How can the media even think of blaming Trump for the rhetoric when the Democrats and the media constantly call him literally worse than Hitler, that must be stopped at all costs.
I just want to play some of the stuff that even we forgot about.
Booy who is on my staff, who is in charge of audio and video for my shows. I talked to her this morning, and she said, I even forgot how long ago this started. He was Hitler, who had to be stopped, even if it was an assassination, before he was even president, in 2015!
