(Ken Silva, Headline USA) The House Task Force investigating the first assassination attempt on Donald Trump will hold its first public hearing 9:30 a.m. Thursday on Capitol Hill.
Several key figures from the deadly July 13 Trump rally are scheduled to testify at the much-anticipated hearing. Those figures include Butler County Emergency Services Unit Commander Edward Lenz, Butler Township Police Department patrolman Drew Blasko, Pennsylvania State Police Lt. John D. Herold, and Allegheny County Medical Examiner Ariel Goldschmidt.
Additionally, former Secret Service agent Patrick Sullivan, who was not at Butler on July 13, will testify in his capacity as an expert of Secret Service security protocols.
Here's who's set to testify Thursday at the first Trump Shooting Task Force hearing.
The most interesting names, to me, are ESU commander Lenz and Medical Examiner Ariel Goldschmidt.
Blasko is the cop who claims he told the Secret Service they should have covered the AGR roof.… pic.twitter.com/2t8DQSasnR— Ken Silva (@JD_Cashless) September 24, 2024
As the leader of the Butler ESU, Lenz’s team included one of the snipers who was stationed in the same AGR building complex that was used by Thomas Crooks as a perch to shoot at Trump. It’s not clear why that sniper failed to see Crooks.
Blasko, meanwhile, is the patrolman caught on body camera footage lambasting the Secret Service for failing to cover the rooftop used by Crooks.
“I told them that fucking Tuesday,” he can be heard saying in the aftermath of the shooting. “I told them to post fucking guys over here.”
Headline USA is unsure what role PSP Lt. Herold played in the July 13 shooting.
Goldschmidt, meanwhile, is involved in the controversy over Crooks’s autopsy records. As has been previously reported, Crooks’s body was reportedly kept on the rooftop until 6 a.m. the day after the shooting. There, Butler County coroner William F. Young III allegedly examined Crooks’s body before sending him to the Allegheny County Medical Examiner for the autopsy.
Thursday’s hearing will come six days after the Secret Service released a summary of the findings of its Butler rally internal review. Most of Secret Service’s internal findings have already been documented through congressional testimony, news media investigations and other public statements.
However, Secret Service Acting Director Ronald Rowe did confirm last Friday that his agency’s snipers at Butler knew someone was on the rooftop by 6:10 p.m.—more than 90 seconds before Crooks opened fire.
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.
