Police Bodycam Captures Response to Attempted Assassination of President Donald Trump | US News
New bodycam footage has revealed the tensions that arose between police and Secret Service agents following the assassination attempt on Donald Trump’s life.
In one clip, local officers can be seen getting upset with the Secret Service for not being stationed on the roof initially.
“I f***ing told them they needed to post the guys f***ing over here. I told them that, the f***ing secret service,” expresses a Butler Township officer in the aftermath of the attack.
“I told them that f***ing Tuesday,” he continues. The assassination attempt occurred at a campaign rally on Saturday 13 July, four days after he claims he instructed officers to cover the roof.
Thomas Crooks fired at Mr. Trump, grazing his ear and fatally striking audience member Corey Comperatore at the rally near Butler, Pennsylvania.
He positioned himself on a roof in a complex adjacent to the Butler Farm Show, where Mr. Trump was delivering his speech.
Crooks was approximately 135 meters away from Mr. Trump and outside the safety perimeter established by the Secret Service.
‘Dude, he turned around on me’
Leading up to the attack, the bodycam footage captures an officer being lifted onto the roof before spotting Thomas Crooks and quickly retreating, running to his vehicle to retrieve his firearm.
“F***ing this close, bro,” he informs another officer, “Dude, he turned around on me.”
The officers proceed to frantically shout to Secret Service agents about Crooks’ location on the roof.
“This building, he was on top of this building, the left one,” one of them yells.
By the time the officer returns to the roof, Crooks has been neutralized by a sniper.
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The officer questions the Secret Service on what went wrong.
“Before you motherf***ers came out here, I put my head up here like a f***ing idiot by myself, dude…”
“I was f***ing calling out, bro,” he says, “F***ing on top of the roof, f***ing… were you not on the same frequency?”
‘A US Secret Service failure’
A Secret Service spokesperson stated that the agency is reviewing the footage.
“The US Secret Service appreciates our local law enforcement partners, who acted bravely as they searched for the shooter that day,” Anthony Guglielmi said in a statement to Sky’s US partner NBC News.
“The attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump was a US Secret Service failure, and we are reviewing and updating our protective policies and procedures to ensure such a tragedy never happens again.”
The head of the Secret Service, Kimberly Cheatle, resigned due to the agency’s handling of the incident.
The agency’s new acting head also informed a Senate committee hearing that Secret Service agents could face termination if found to have violated protocols on that day.