New Details In Donald Trump Rally Shooting Suggest Potential Political Scandal

Details are continuing to surface nearly one week after a gunman shot several rounds of ammo in the direction of former president Donald Trump at a Pennsylvania rally.

On Saturday, July 13, the suspect, later identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks, used an AR-style rifle to shoot six to eight rounds, with one bullet skimming Trump's right ear. The shooting also resulted in one fatality and two serious injuries.

According to new reports, Thomas Matthew Crooks was identified as a person of interest over an hour before the first shots were fired, raising new concerns that there is a possible political scandal--some even say it is bigger than Watergate.

Charlie Kirk, political activist and radio talk show host, spoke to a handful of senators on Thursday who received a confidential briefing, and the details shared now suggest there is more to the story.

The new reports, per Kirk, are demonstrating and showing that the United States Secret Service had eyes on the would-be assassin 62 minutes before the events unfolded at the Donald Trump rally. In fact, according to Kirk, Thomas Matthew Crooks was identified but was never approached or spoken to. Allegedly, he was walking around with a range finder and a backpack, and nobody confronted him. They eventually lost sight of Crooks.

"They allowed Donald Trump to go on stage while this maniac, who they identified, was nowhere to be seen," Kirk reported. "And remember, there was no drone reconnaissance, there was no helicopter support. The building was already identified as a potential threat, and yet he was able to pull out a ladder from his car, go on the ladder on the top of the roof, pull out his rifle, set up his shot, and the counter sniper team doesn't even see him even though they have the higher ground and the vantage point and nobody during all this [thinks] 'Get Donald Trump off [the] stage?'"

Kirk went on to ask his viewers, "At what point are we willing to say, 'Maybe something else was at play here?' This is one of the greatest potential political scandals, bigger than Watergate, where in broad daylight in Butler, Pennsylvania, they had an unguarded rooftop 120 yards away, and the would-be assassin who was identified and not confronted and allowed to roam free and fire shots on Donald Trump."

As The Blast previously reported, Crooks was first identified as a person of interest at 5:10 p.m. and spotted with a rangefinder at 5:30 p.m.

Trump took the stage at 6:02 p.m., the first shots were fired at 6:11:33 p.m.

As The Blast reported earlier this week, the Butler County Sheriff's office confirmed that an officer came face-to-face with the suspect seconds before he opened fire at the Donald Trump rally.

One of the responding officers spotted the suspect, later identified as Crooks, on the roof of a building about 400 to 500 feet from the stage. The officer then climbed up to investigate.

"All I know is the officer had both hands up on the roof to get up onto the roof. Never made it because the shooter had turned towards the officer, and rightfully and smartly, the officer let go," Sheriff Michael Slupe said, per WGAL.

"I'd have done the same thing. Absolutely. I mean, people think officers are Superman, like, you hold on to the roof with one hand while you're hanging on for dear life and pull a gun out of here. And it doesn't work that way," he added.

Earlier this week, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas appeared on "Good Morning America," admitting that "a direct line of sight like that to the former president should not [have] occur[ed]."

"That is precisely why President Biden directed that an independent review of the incident occur. That will be done in close coordination with the FBI, which is conducting a separate criminal investigation, the importance of which cannot be overstated," Mayorkas told George Stephanopoulos on the morning talk show.

"We have to learn everything about the assailant, who of course, the Secret Service so bravely and heroically neutralized, and we are going to really study the event independently and make recommendations to the Secret Service and to me so that we can assure the safety and security of our protectees, which is one of our most vital missions in the Secret Service, the Department of Homeland Security and across the government," they added.

After the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump, current President Joe Biden outlined his administration's plans as the investigation continues.

“Mr. Trump, as a former president and nominee of the Republican party, already received a heightened level of security and I’ve been consistent in my direction of the Secret Service to provide him with every resource, capability, and protective measure necessary to ensure his continued safety,” Biden said earlier this week, per The Guardian.

“I’ve directed an independent review of national security at [Saturday's] rally to assess exactly what happened, and we’ll share the results of that independent review with the American people as well," he added.

A motive for the shooting remains under investigation.