(Ken Silva, Headline USA) A whistleblower has disclosed that the Secret Service declined an offer from local police to use their drones for aerial surveillance before the deadly July 13 Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
The whistleblower’s disclosure followed Wednesday’s congressional hearing with FBI Director Chris Wray, who confirmed reports that the alleged shooter, Thomas Crooks, flew a drone over the Trump rally site hours before the event.
“We have recovered a drone the shooter appeared to use. It was recovered in his vehicle with the controller. Additionally, we’ve uncovered that around 3:50 p.m., on the day of the shooting, that the shooter was flying the drone around the area. Not over the stage, but about 200 yards away from that—we think, but don’t know,” Wray said.
The revelation that Crooks used a drone to plan his assassination attempt prompted questions about why the Secret Service didn’t have its own drones, or at least counter-drone technology. And on Thursday, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., added to those questions when he revealed his whistleblower’s information that the Secret Service turned down drones from local police.
🚨🚨 NEW – Whistleblower tells me local law enforcement partners & suppliers offered drones to Secret Service BEFORE the rally – but Secret Service declined pic.twitter.com/UM0jfrMc9z
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) July 25, 2024
“Why was the U.S. Secret Service (USSS) not using its own drones? According to one whistleblower, the night before the rally, U.S. Secret Service repeatedly denied offers from a local law enforcement partner to utilize drone technology to secure the rally,” Hawley said in a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
“This means that the technology was both available to USSS and able to be deployed to secure the site. Secret Service said no.”
According to Hawley, his whistleblower further alleged that after the Secret Service changed its mind after the shooting, and asked law enforcement to deploy the drone to surveil the aftermath of the attack.
“It is hard to understand why USSS would decline to use drones when they were offered, particularly given the fact USSS permitted the shooter to overfly the rally area with his own drone mere hours before event,” Hawley added.
“The failure to deploy drone technology is all the more concerning since, according to the whistleblower, the drones USSS was offered had the capability not only to identify active shooters but also to help neutralize them.”
Since the Secret Service is housed within the DHS, Hawley asked Mayorkas to provide all and communications concerning the availability or use of drones at the July 13, 2024 rally in Butler. He also demanded that Mayorkas testify before his committee.
To date, DHS has yet to provide Congress any records about the Trump shooting, according to lawmakers.
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.
