(Ken Silva, Headline USA) The Secret Service’s counter-snipers left the July 13 deadly Trump rally believing that they took fire—with one of them telling Congress that he can’t use his agency’s radios anymore due to the trauma from the event, according to recently released interview transcripts.
The information that Secret Service may have been shot at was initially revealed by one of the counter-snipers on the northern barn behind Donald Trump. Even though trees were blocking their view from the gunman on the AGR rooftop, those counter-snipers can be seen flinching when the shooting began—perhaps because they were taking fire through the trees.
The counter-sniper first told the Senate Homeland Security Committee in August about being shot at. On Oct. 7, that unnamed counter-sniper provided more details to the House Task Force investigating the Trump assassination attempts.
This Secret Service sniper had the shooter in his scope. Never should have hesitated. pic.twitter.com/bCd2GnKxZ3
— 🇺🇸ProudArmyBrat (@leslibless) July 14, 2024
“I’m telling you, I could have reached out and smacked these projectiles out of the air with my hand. They were that close. I could feel the air, the pressure difference in my eardrum as these rounds passed,” the Secret Service counter-sniper told congressional investigators.
The counter-sniper further said that the forensic evidence supports his conclusion: “They found out later that it was hydraulic fluid that had struck the—a projectile had hit a hydraulic line in a crane that was next to our posting, and it had sprayed hydraulic fluid onto their weapons, equipment, and themselves. And the only way a round is going to hit that is if the shooter had elevated his weapon, pointed it over at us, and fired.”
He also said that his partner also believes they were shot at. The two discussed what happened when they arrived on the rooftop of the Butler Memorial Hospital to protect Trump as he received treatment for being shot in the ear.
“When we got to the hospital roof, we had a second to re-establish our position … I looked at my partner as we were setting up our equipment, and I said, hey, how close were those rounds on our left? And he looked at me and he turned white as a ghost and he said, ‘I heard them all on my right.’ And so those rounds were snapping right between us,” the counter-sniper said.
🚨NEW: A Secret Service counter-sniper, who believes he was shot at in Butler, says he can't use his agency's radios anymore due to the trauma from the event.
It's unclear as to whether this guy is still on duty. The part where the Task Force asks him if he’s on leave is… pic.twitter.com/LPcEuanubY
— Ken Silva (@JD_Cashless) December 31, 2024
Months later, the counter-sniper told Congress he was still suffering traumatic effects from the incident—so much so that he couldn’t bring himself to use Secret Service radios anymore.
“The sound that a radio transmission makes is the same sound as a round snapping by. So I can’t use them because it brings me back to that day,” he said. “I’m telling you, in my knowledge, training, and physical experience, a round was close enough for me to smack with my hand.”
Reacting to that disclosure, a Task Force member told him, “I’m sorry that some of those comms issues are bringing you back to that day. I can only imagine … That’s traumatic.”
The Task Force member then asked him if he believes the shots at him were fired by alleged gunman Thomas Crooks, to which the counter-sniper responded: “I couldn’t positively identify whether Crooks was shooting at me because I never saw Crooks, but if someone from Butler PD was engaging us, I have a list of questions for them.”
The counter-snipers on the northern barn never returned fire. It was instead their counterpart on the southern barn who put the final kill shot into Crooks—15 seconds after shooting began, and 10 seconds after a local cop shot at Crooks, causing him to stop firing.
The counter-sniper who shot the AGR gunman was also interviewed by the House Task Force, but he didn’t speak much to whether he received fire. However, his partner, counter-sniper team leader, John Marciniak, told the Task Force that the FBI later determined that fire came in their direction.
“At the time, I had no reason to believe shots were fired at us until speaking to the FBI … apparently, a round had hit one of the hydraulic fluid hoses that was holding up the screens and speakers. That sprayed all over top of us. And, at the time, I asked [his partner] ‘Am I seeing snow right now? Is it like heat exhaustion?’ And he said, ‘I don’t know,’” Marcinak told the Task Force in October.
“But it was hydraulic fluid that sprayed all over us. So I guess around—it was in the air, in our direction, but not close to us.”
Some, including online researcher John Cullen, have argued that the shots at the Secret Service counter-snipers indicates that there was a second gunman along with Crooks.
The 2nd shooter wasn't shooting at Trump.
He's shooting at the Secret Service guys..
When the shot missed, it hit the railing. pic.twitter.com/uJvxG3s0zY— John Cullen 🐓 (@I_Am_JohnCullen) November 30, 2024
The FBI, for its part, told Headline USA that one of the rounds indeed struck machinery near the counter-snipers—but that the bureau doesn’t have evidence that the snipers were specficially targeted.
“The shooter fired eight rounds on July 13th in the direction of where then-Presidential candidate Donald Trump was speaking. The FBI is aware of one round that struck a piece of machinery causing the dispersal of shrapnel and hydraulic fluid in the immediate area of impact,” the FBI told this publication in an email on Monday.
“However, the effort to process the crime scene did not reveal evidence suggesting the shooter specifically targeted U.S. Secret Service sniper positions.”
Meanwhile, it’s unclear as to whether the Secret Service counter-sniper who can’t use his radio is still on duty. The part where the Task Force asks him if he’s on leave is redacted. In other transcripts, that portion isn’t redacted. For instance, the sniper who shot Crooks was put on desk duty, while Marcinak was put back on duty after a week of leave.
The Secret Service did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment about the matter.
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.
