(Ken Silva, Headline USA) A whistleblower has given a new excuse for why law enforcement wasn’t stationed on the rooftop where Thomas Crooks allegedly shot at Donald Trump during his July 13 campaign rally: It was too hot.
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., revealed this new excuse Monday in a letter to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
“Contrary to [Secret Service] Director [Kimberly] Cheatle’s public statements about the ‘safety’ of the sloped roof of American Glass Building 6, one whistleblower with direct knowledge of Secret Service planning for the event alleges that there was supposed to be a local law enforcement presence on the roof that day,” Hawley told Mayorkas.
NEW – Whistleblowers tell me law enforcement personnel were in fact STATIONED to the roof the day of the Trump rally, but abandoned it, citing the heat. They also say law enforcement were supposed to be patrolling the building, but opted to stay inside instead pic.twitter.com/aIVNSPHUF6
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) July 22, 2024
“In fact, the whistleblower alleges that at least one individual was specifically assigned to the roof for the duration of the rally, but this person abandoned his or her post due to the hot weather. The whistleblower further alleges that concerns over the heat prompted law enforcement to forego patrolling Building 6 and instead to station security personnel inside the building.”
As Hawley referenced in his letter, the whistleblower’s disclosure contradicts Cheatle’s earlier claim that the Secret Service kept law enforcement off of the building because of its “sloped roof.”
The whistleblower also may implicate local law enforcement in the security failures that nearly led to the death of Trump—and did lead to the death of a firefighter and the hospitalization of at least two others. Cheatle told Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., at a congressional hearing Monday that it was local law enforcement stationed inside the building used by Crooks to fire at the Trump rally.
Burchett asked Cheatle how no one inside the building heard Crooks moving on the roof, which was made of tin. Cheatle said she doesn’t have those details yet.
Hawley’s letter to Mayorkas seeks more information about the rooftop fiasco.
“If the whistleblower’s allegations are accurate, when did the individual abandon the post? Which law enforcement units were assigned to the roof? Please provide all security plans indicating which units were assigned to the roof and the building,” Hawley asked Mayorkas, telling him to respond by Friday.
“Did any law enforcement personnel fail to report to their assigned stations that day?”
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.
