First report on ‘preliminary findings’ of Trump assassination attempt published by Ron Johnson’s office

Immediately after the attempt on President Trump’s life in Butler, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin senator Ron Johnson launched a probe into the security and law enforcement failures by interviewing government entities and officials, and “soliciting information” from private companies.

Here are five key details, from an item out this morning by Landon Mion at Fox News, breaking down the findings from Johnson’s 13-page report:

  • The Secret Service failed to show up for a pre-event security briefing on the morning of the rally, which was given to local SWAT and sniper teams.

  • The Secret Service did not initially intend to dispatch snipers to the event, before “changing plans for unclear reasons.”

  • Local law enforcement alleged communication was “siloed” and direct contact with the Secret Service outpost and its agents was infrequent.

  • Local law enforcement also alleged they “notified command” about Thomas Matthew Crooks before the shooting, and “received confirmation” that the Secret Service got the message and was tracking on Crooks’s presence and movements.

  • Crooks brought two large bags with him, pictured with his bicycle, personal effects which have all since disappeared.

Per Mion, the pre-event briefing provided the different agencies with who was responsible for what, and where everyone should be. Also, from Mion:

Attendees of the briefing said no Secret Service or other federal law enforcement were present for the briefing and that the Secret Service initially did not plan to provide sniper units before changing plans for unclear reasons. It is unknown why the Secret Service did not attend the briefing.

Now, with some reports suggesting multiple shooters based on the auditory evidence, I have to wonder if this was the cause for the sudden change of plans—there’s a lot of science behind ballistics, and the plausibility of this scenario seems to be growing. (I also have to wonder why “law enforcement” would hose off the roof as the scene of the crime immediately after one of the most earth-shattering events in American political history.)

Furthermore, the revelation that the Secret Service confirmed it did in fact know about Crooks’s presence and movements kind of blows the idea that this was all just an unfortunate and unintentional breakdown in communication excuse out of the water; one would only rightly infer that our Secret Service was in on it.

To the fifth point: What else did Crooks bring with him in those bags? See below:

That looks like a lot of gear, and for a kid who’s apparently never looked up how to build at-home explosives yet had somehow figured out how to do so, I’d like to know what else he had on him.

Lastly, just some food for thought: Someone in the comments stated that CNN had never live streamed a Trump rally until Butler—whether or not this is true I’m not sure, but I couldn’t find any evidence to the contrary.

None of us have any expectations of truth and transparency from an FBI or DHS “investigation,” so let’s just pray that “loose lips of senility sink ships” and we get some real answers from Joe Biden.

Trump with Bandaid.

Image: Fox News video screen grab, used with permission.

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