The Butler Township Police Department (BTPD) on Friday declined to provide The Pennsylvania Daily Star with the name of the police officer who claimed to warn the U.S. Secret Service about the possibility of an assassination attempt in a June 13 bodycam video released by the department Thursday.
The spokesman similarly declined to comment to The Star regarding the videos released by the department, citing ongoing federal investigations into the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump.
Videos released by the department to media outlets showed the perspective of the BTPD officer who first saw Thomas Crooks on the rooftop used to shoot Trump, kill an attendee at the rally, and injure two supporters in the audience.
The video depicts the police officer being hoisted onto the top of the building, then seeing Crooks and immediately retreating and running into a field before returning to his vehicle to retrieve a rifle and ultimately gaining access to the roof after Crooks was shot by a Secret Service counter-sniper.
🚨BOMBSHELL BUTLER, PA BODYCAM FOOTAGE 🚨
New footage just released helps fill in timeline moments before assassin Thomas Crooks opened fire
Video shows a police officer being hoisted to the roof of the AGR building, interrupting Crooks just seconds before he started shooting pic.twitter.com/kTUo5sEGXs
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) August 8, 2024
Another video showed a BTPD officer expressing his frustration with the U.S. Secret Service, claiming the police agency warned the U.S. Secret Service of the danger posed by the rooftop the previous Tuesday.
“I f—ing told them that they needed to post guys f—ing over here,” said the officer. “I told them that f—ing Tuesday.”
He added, “I talked to the Secret Service guys. They’re like, ‘Yeah, no problem. We’re going to post guys over here.’”
🚨 Butler Police officer on Body Cam:
“I f*cking told them that they needed to post guys f*cking over here…I told them that f*cking Tuesday.. I talked to the Secret Service guys. They’re like, ‘Yeah, no problem. We’re going to post guys over here.” pic.twitter.com/sDhlnvLbst
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) August 9, 2024
A spokesman for BTPD told The Star the department is “not releasing names of officers at this time,” including those present in the moments immediately before Crooks began firing into the Trump rally.
The department additionally told The Star, “We will not have any comment at this time since we are cooperating with numerous investigations that are currently underway.”
The Star requested the full-body camera video and any written communications between the unnamed police officer and Secret Service with the BTPD but did not receive an immediate response.
Days after the shooting, a Secret Service spokesman appeared to shift blame for the assassination attempt to the Butler Township Police Department, which boasts just 21 full-time officers, by claiming in July the building used by Crooks “was outside of the designated perimeter of the Trump rally, so it was secured by local law enforcement, not Secret Service agents.”
Former Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned more than one week after the assassination attempt after she was confronted by Republicans in Congress and by senators at the Republican National Convention.
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Tom Pappert is the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star, and also reports for The Pennsylvania Daily Star and The Arizona Sun Times. Follow Tom on X/Twitter. Email tips to pappert.tom@proton.me.
