Text Messages Give More Insight Into Rally Investigation

Two words describe the security situation at the Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13: hot mess. The flaws were glaring, the ground fertile for conspiracy theorists. Can you blame them? The Secret Service, amid scrutiny from both parties, is stonewalling and stacking sandbags.

We don’t know if would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks was a lone gunman. How many casings were recovered from the roof? We don’t know. What we do know is that no one at the Secret Service has been disciplined for this calamity, and now text messages obtained by The New York Times show that snipers knew about Crooks earlier than initially reported. It provides yet another damning update on the assassination attempt that nearly killed a former president. Crooks missed delivering a fatal headshot by millimeters.

About 90 minutes before former President Donald J. Trump took the stage in Butler, a local countersniper part of the broader security detail let his colleagues know his shift was ending. “Guys I am out. Be safe,” he texted a group of colleagues at 4:19 p.m. on July 13. He exited the second floor of a warehouse that overlooked the campaign rally site, leaving two other countersnipers behind.

Outside, the officer noticed a young man with long stringy hair sitting on a picnic table near the warehouse. At 4:26 p.m., he texted his colleagues about the man, who was outside the fenced area of the Butler Fair Show grounds where Mr. Trump was to appear. He said that the person would have seen him come out with his rifle and “knows you guys are up there.”

The countersniper who sent the texts confirmed to The New York Times that the individual he saw was later identified as the gunman.

By 5:10 p.m., the young man was no longer on the picnic table. He was right below the countersnipers, who were upstairs in a warehouse owned by AGR International. One of the countersnipers took pictures of him, according to a law enforcement after-action report, which along with the texts from the Beaver County Emergency Services Unit was provided to The Times by the office of Senator Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa. The text messages were independently verified by The Times.

At 5:38 p.m., the photos were shared in a group chat, and another text went out among the officers, saying they should inform the Secret Service. “Kid learning around building we are in. AGR I believe it is. I did see him with a range finder looking towards stage. FYI. If you wanna notify SS snipers to look out. I lost sight of him.”

Taken together, the text messages provide the most detailed picture yet of the hours before the assassination attempt. They reveal that the gunman, later identified as Thomas Crooks, 20, of Bethel Park, Pa., aroused police suspicion more than 90 minutes before the shooting, rather than about 60 minutes, as has been previously discussed in congressional hearings.

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