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Would-be Trump assassin is filmed waltzing down roof of building at Butler Rally before shooting President Trump. James Copenhaver video

In a letter to acting US Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) highlights newly discovered security failures on July 13 that led to the shooting of President Trump during his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

As revealed in the letter, Butler County law enforcement told Grassley’s staff in interviews that during security walkthroughs on July 11, they had “raised concerns to the Secret Service several times about securing the AGR complex buildings,” Grassley writes. “Butler County law enforcement officials said they told the Secret Service counter sniper that they didn’t have the manpower to cover the AGR complex buildings and asked that the whole area be ‘locked down’ and to not let people in that area because, based on their knowledge of that area, they believed people would gather there to see former President Trump.” 

However, in response to these concerns, two Secret Service agents said, “We will take care of it.”

The Senator asks Rowe if the representations made by local law enforcement are accurate and what actions the Secret Service took to secure the area. He also asks for additional records and reiterates previous requests, which remain unfulfilled, by September 24.

Grassley’s letter also highlights the Secret Service’s refusal to provide requested information on August 19 and September 4, 202, calling it “unacceptable” and notifying Rowe that the denial “fails to take into consideration Congress’s constitutional authority to conduct independent oversight.” Grassley continues, “It also flies in the face of your congressional testimony about responding to Congress.”

Due to Rowe’s failure to disclose and provide information, Grassley writes, “I’ve had to go around the Secret Service to get answers.”

On July 13, Trump was shot by Thomas Matthew Crooks while speaking in Butler, Pennsylvania. One rallygoer was killed in the shooting, and two were injured. Crooks fired the shot on top of a nearby building, where Secret Service counter snipers had a clear view of the shooter from their position at a higher elevation than the shooter behind Trump, yet they did not act. Crooks accessed the building with a ladder he bought at Home Depot the same day as the shooting.

Additionally, as The Gateway Pundit reported, an eyewitness told the BBC that several people witnessed the shooter crawling on the roof of a local building with a rifle before Trump was shot, but they did not act until Trump was shot. According to later reports, a police officer encountered the shooter on the roof but let him go after he pointed the gun at him and before he shot Trump.

Investigations into the matter have left more questions than answers. For example, former Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle’s excuse for leaving the building unmonitored by agents was that the building “has a sloped roof at its highest point” and it wouldn’t be safe.

Grassley’s investigation into the July 13 assassination attempt also extends to the recently foiled assassination plot by 46-year-old Pakistani national Asif Merchant and the second attempted Trump assassination in West Palm Beach last weekend. 

The second attempt on President Trump’s life came as Trump was golfing on the 5th hole of his West Palm Beach resort with real estate investor Steve Witkoff on Sunday. Shots were fired on the golf course after Secret Service agents identified a muzzle aimed at Trump through the fence line at Trump’s golf course. The shooter fled, leaving behind a Go-Pro, two backpacks, a loaded SKS-style, 7.62×39 caliber rifle with a scope, and a black plastic bag containing food.

Officials identified the gunman as 58-year-old Routh and confirmed that he was targeting President Trump.

Read the full letter here.