(LifeSiteNews) — Secret Service is blaming local law enforcement for not securing the rooftop where a 20-year-old tried to assassinate former President Donald Trump over the weekend.
But local law enforcement, and several experts who spoke to NBC News, said all responsibility for protecting the president ultimately lies with the Secret Service.
The agency is under widespread criticism for allowing a shooter, identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks, to have clear access to President Trump during his rally on Saturday in Pennsylvania. Crooks hit Trump’s right ear, but the president is reportedly in good condition.
It has been reported that Crooks was at one point a registered Republican but that he also made a $15 donation to Progressive Turnout Project, a left-wing Democratic Party-linked activist group, in 2021.
The rooftop “was identified by the Secret Service as a potential vulnerability in the days before the event, two sources familiar with the agency’s operations told NBC News,” the outlet reported last night.
“The Secret Service had designated that rooftop as being under the jurisdiction of local law enforcement, a common practice in securing outdoor rallies,” Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said, according to NBC News’ paraphrase.
The outlet reported:
The Secret Service worked with local law enforcement to maintain event security, including sniper teams poised on rooftops to identify and eliminate threats, Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said. But no officers were posted on the building used by the would-be assassin, outside the event’s security perimeter but only about 148 yards from the stage — within range of a semiautomatic rifle like the one the gunman was carrying.