The would-be assassin, Thomas Matthew Crooks, who almost successfully shot former President Donald Trump during a political rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, told his boss that he needed the day off due to having “something to do,” according to new reporters. If he had been denied this time off, there’s a chance he would have been at work on the day of the rally and the bullets he fired from his AR-15 that grazed Trump’s ear and ended the life of a former fire chief, would have never exited through the barrel of the rifle.
According to the folks at Fox News:
Thomas Matthew Crooks was shot dead by Secret Service agents after firing five rounds, grazing Trump’s ear, killing firefighter Corey Comperatore and injuring two others at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. But law enforcement sources told CNN that the 20-year-old told his boss that he would be back at work on Sunday.
Crooks listed himself as unemployed in 2020, but he worked most recently as a dietary aide at Bethel Park Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, a state-licensed transitional facility. The center’s administrator, Marcie Grimm, said in a Sunday statement that Crooks “performed his job without concern” and his background check was clean.
Crooks’ “newer model” phone and a gray 12-button remote transmitter were recovered from beside his body after he was shot, according to photos obtained by WPXI. The transmitter is believed to have been connected to an explosive device in Crooks’ car – investigators suggested in an interview with the New York Post that he may have planned to stage a distraction during the shooting.
While they have now gained access to the shooter’s phone and his laptop, officials conducting the investigation into Crooks and what might have motivated him to carry out an attempt on Trump’s life, they haven’t been able to find one.
Three hours before the shooting took place, Crooks raised suspicion when he went through the magnetometers at the security screening area at the rally with a rangefinder. For those not familiar with this particular small pair of binoculars, but is primarily used by both hunters and target hunters to help measure distances when setting up long-range shots.
And yet, for whatever reason, this didn’t throw up a red flag? Really? What kind of incompetent people are we hiring at the Secret Service? This guy should have been removed from the premises immediately.
That sighting was shared with state police, according to the source, and there was a discussion about whether the man was carrying a pair of binoculars to try to see the rally better.
Crooks was able to gain access to the building’s roof by climbing on top of an air conditioning unit, ABC News reported.
Let’s hope investigators and Republicans in Congress get to the bottom of this very strange situation and find out exactly what happened. There are no doubt people who need to be held accountable for what happened on July 13, including the director of the Secret Service, Kimberly Cheatle.
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