Chris Whitcomb is an old, dear friend. We did some talking head appearances in the aftermath of 9-11 and have stayed in touch over the years. Chris served honorably with the FBI HRT as a sniper and, after retiring from the FBI, did some very interesting work for my former three-letter outfit. I have identified some of the Secret Service failings in preventing the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump. But I turned to Chris to get a genuine sniper’s perspective. I think you will find his insights profound and informative.
Hi Larry!
I can’t EAR you.
You have to jump ahead a bit
Trying to edit it to get it to start at the right place.
Excellent!
Cui Bono?
And in exchange of what?
The Rothschild Chaos Merchants are now in “whatever it takes” mode, never let a good crisis, especially an unexpected one, go to waste. That applies to both sides here.
Whitcomb is obviously experienced and knowledgable, but he seemed to focus more on assuming the problem was due to the agents/police involved being overwhelmed by the complexity and pace of the situation, that the chain of failures were oversights, not gross incompetence.
If Professionals don’t make such rookie mistakes, so we are still left with the “incompetence vs. malice” question.
I know, I know, “never ascribe malice…” But there are so many coincidences being piled on on top of each other to make this all seem possible due to innocent mistakes. But we are asked to “believe”. Sorry if this runs some the wrong way, but regular readers know I’m an equal-opportunity iconoclast.
The lack of social media presence is “interesting” for a 20 year old with an active axe to grind. But then it plays to the “loner” image sure to be trotted out, all obfuscatory handwringing to deflect from the (AGAIN) glaringly obvious “how could all the 17 spy agencies and the NSA missed this?” It didn’t take long to identify a kid with no military record by his DNA… ???!!???
Oh, he didn’t use social media, and spoke to no one, was model student, no staff at the school ever noticed he was half-a-bubble off level. None of his fellow students ever commented on THEIR S-M that he was more than a bit odd. Obviously had a good amount of firearms training, even if informal via family. The Blackrock advertisement participation is an interesting coincidence, if that’s what it is. Maybe nothing more than it contributed to delusions of grandeur?
One more bugbear… if the kid could see the entire scene, he also must have seen the gov’t sniper nest, with the tripod etc. in plain sight. What potential scenarios explain why he carried on despite being seen approaching the building by bystanders (and possibly by a police officer?), seeing the sniper nest turn their binoculars and rifles towards him and proceeding anyway. Perhaps his adrenalin (medications?) got away with him, but it takes some level of psychological pressure to over-ride self-preservation. So the kid was also suicidal (martyrdom?) in his intent to kill Trump? Or maybe he assumed (was told?) they wouldn’t shoot to kill, he would be captured and allowed to be a hero for all history to the Dem half of the country for ridding it of Trump the Menace to Democracy?
So many questions (and more) that will certainly go unanswered.
Or else was it part of a conspiracy psy-op aimed at the re-election of Trump?
Doubtful, too big a risk of killing Trump. Plus the kid would have had to be the best marksman on the planet to only clip Trump’s ear, with someone in both the kid’s and Don’s ear, coordinating their efforts, saying “turn your head NOW!” Milliseconds and this all could have been very different.
I should know, I still have a scar to the bone on the top of my head where as a 5-year-old I was playing with friends at a birthday party, and we went on the very edge of a farmer’s woodlot. The mentally unbalanced farmer was trying “scare” us away, the kid who lived there tried to get us to leave because he heard “the bees” come out. We looked around, there were no bees to be seen. I sat down to tie my shoe and the next thing I felt a burning pain, and blood running from my head. The other kids are screaming… like Trump, an inch different I wouldn’t be here typing… but I digress.
So it is actually possible this kid was psychologically unbalanced and thinking he was doing the “right thing”.
Sometimes art accurately reflects life. In the Johnny Depp movie Chocolate, the mayor of the town says to a local low-intelligence loser, “something must be done” about Depp’s troupe of gypsies docking on the town’s riverfront. So the loser sets fire to the boats, with near tragic results… and the mayor is “shocked” that the loser would take his statement so literally.
“We need to put Trump in a bullseye.” Biden to donors.
“Trump must be stopped.” Pelosi on MSNBC
Well, that’s what the kid tried to do… what a waste of a young life, listening to the hateful warmongers.
How Trump made the decision to kill Suleimani
https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2020-01-03/how-trump-made-the-decision-to-kill-suleimani
this still pisses me off to this day:( what a travesty. Iran has had to put up w/ soooo much shit that it does not deserve. of course, so has Assad and Yemen and Lebanon… American foreign policy is evil to the core.
You live by the sword, you die by the sword. Has there ever been a US president not involved in murder and the mass slaughter of innocents? Trump is no different….all to fulfill an Orwellian nightmare of US hegemony, thank God they’ve neither the military might nor intellect to bring that to fruition.
💯👍
Ya, the execution of SS jobs all seems logical………however how was it possible for a 20yo geek to:
1) know exactly where to go without hesitation?
2) know that a ladder would be there to get him to a unoccupied roof?
3) be able to traverse the field, climb to the roof, crawl to a shooting position and manage to control his adrenaline high to get several shots off with one hitting Trumps ear?
4) know that roof would be open to him and the SS would not shoot him until he fired his shots first?
5) figure all this out himself, without ANY guidance or help?
Ya, never ascribe to malice what can be easily explained by incompetence.
The script for the hearings has already been written.
If a 20yo geek can out-fox a professional organization with a $2.5B annual budget this easily all by his lonesome self, well ……………..
And the oddest thing was that, despite being informed of, and looking at a potential assassin they did not do the obvious and get Trump to safety pending clearing any potential threats. That is beyond incompetence, and points to intent.
Yet the incompetence defense is used endlessly and people just seem to accept it?
It is all so unfair that some people can get away with being soooo incompetent!
Plus let’s not forget the dead fire chief and two other innocent civilians who are now in critical condition.
At least we can count on the FBI to get to the bottom of it 😉
Incomprehensibly strange that a country with a plethora of three-letter agencies…all vying to be top dog in providing security, ends up the most corrupt entity on the planet…and the two next most corrupt, Ukraine and Israel are US sponsored and explicitedly following their instructions to a tee.
Surely the Secret Service has drone operators with equipment overflyingTrump’s rallies? If not, why not?
Seems like gross incompetence to me. And those Tump supporters in the stands saw the perp minutes before he fired, and tried to get the SS galoots to turn around and look — there was a BBC reporter who interviwed the guy. Still more SS incompetence when they were too dumb to look.
And now all Larry wants to do is go off on an irrelevant wild goose chase about snipers. The drone action would have avoided all this sh1t.
And what’s your angle? Conpiracy theory — these days all manner of crazy people are out there shooting up mallsand schools. Hrdly surprising aome goofball tried to shoot Trump.
Fire the secret Service detail. No pension.
Interesting point – guns are so passe. If the assassin had used a drone he wouldn’t have needed to be anywhere nearby. But there’s the point of distinguishing friend from foe drones, visual checks would be insufficient. I’m sure that security services will be studying the drone issue and deploy suitable countermeasures pronto.
What countermeasures? Look at how things are in the Ukraine with all the latest toys at play. He would have to speak from a reinforced steel box.
NO IFF problems during the event… friendly drones will be grounded during the event so you know anything in the air is NOT friendly.
but they can still be valuable for surveillance right up to the appearance of the candidate
Here’s a Google maps link to a panoramic view of the shooting site:
https://www.google.com/maps/@40.8582496,-79.9701354,3a,75y,250.25h,84t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sfA5goonaQhB7T3QLqlMuaA!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3DfA5goonaQhB7T3QLqlMuaA%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.share%26w%3D900%26h%3D600%26yaw%3D250.25233728266252%26pitch%3D5.997814334313048%26thumbfov%3D90!7i16384!8i8192?coh=205410&entry=ttu
Notice that the roofs are rather low, and the connecting corridors between buildings are even lower. I was a roofer, and I could easily get on that roof without a ladder, even though I’m 75 and retired now.
Anybody with a computer could have located and scouted that place.
Super informative with an experienced Pro. You guys are good.
I guess the question is now – can we trust and believe the investigation?
And secondly and perhaps more importantly – where does the national zeitgeist go from here?
You won’t be able to trust the investigation. Remember the Warren Commission treason?
In their extreme desperation, the Criminal Globalist Western Oligarchs have made a grave mistake, I think we’re now going to see a Western Oligarch War amongst themselves.
More odd details trickling in – a local cop went up to the roof after seeing the shooter, but was scared off as the shooter apparently pointed a gun at him, all before the shooting started, yet nobody seemed to be concerned until the shooting started, weird.
That Cop is going to shoot himself in the back the head, twice.
Late last night I happened upon a YT video entitled “Trump Shooter Speaks From the Grave”. This appeared to be a social media clip from Crooks’ FB page. He said, “I hate Republicans and I hate Trump.” Then he smiles and adjusts his glasses and says, “But just so you know, you got the wrong guy.”
This video has now been scrubbed apparently along with all his social media.
Imposter hoax. Wrong chin.
New pictures show the alleged shooters body at the lower left section of the roof, and not at the apex. If that is where he was when shot, it would be impossible for him to have been the shooter. It would however explain something that puzzled the other snipers interviewed about the incident, which was the use of the tall tripod. If he was low on the roof, the tripod would have been necessary to gain enough height to fire over the apex of the roof of the building which we now know was full of police and swat members.
In addition, many eye witnesses now say the shots did not come from the roof, that they came from the water tower 450 yds. away. It is entirely possible the kid was just an Oswald type patsy there to be killed and provide cover for the real shooters.
Mr. Whitcomb was very informative. Mr. Trump was very lucky. Some others weren’t so fortunate. As a believer in the trickle down theory of management, for excellence to rise up consstently , it must be encouraged to do so from above, enthusiastically.. The Biden Administration has been an exercise in mediocracy, at best. In my estimation, as an uneducated observer, there must have been someone at the level of an ‘incident site commander’ and that individual must not have mapped things out thoroughly enough. The type that puts in enough energy to just collect a paycheck and retirement benfits. No matter how well trained and professional operatives are, what can occur is a situation of ‘non event feedback’. I.E. In all other previous scenarios, both practice and real, nothing has happened, and as a result individuals start dropping their guard and hesitate to act. The situatiion is taken seriously but not seriously enough. One has to to actively look for a threat and not just wait for it to appear. A 20 something deer hunter’ from PA waltzes in with a rifle in hand and in disbelief, everybody is slow to act. This is not untypical as regards crowd behaivour.
The word you were looking for is “mediocrity”. I think that’s the wrong word anyway. We’re looking at intense, astonishing levels of fuckups.
“…what can occur is a situation of ‘non event feedback’. I.E. In all other previous scenarios, both practice and real, nothing has happened, and as a result individuals start dropping their guard and hesitate to act. The situation is taken seriously but not seriously enough.”
I seriously doubt that happening, at least with the Secret Service, especially in the case of a former President, who is also a current candidate for a Presidential election, and is also an obvious focus of extreme hostility. We’re not talking about shopping mall security guards here for god’s sake.
How about “Amateur”.
Or, professional people don’t like to be called unprofessional.
A woman claimed to have seen Jack Ruby with a rifle near Dealey Plaza prior
Other weapons were sighted at the overpass prior to the event
People just seem to assume anybody with a weapon is LE
New pictures show the shooter had some type of cute AR clone (Ruger?) With an mini EOtech shaped dot site.
If bystanders were shouting and pointing at the shooter his adrenaline and fear would have not helped his accuracy.
I haven’t followed this closely but the five issues need attention.
Re your last point, that is a normal Counter Sniper deployment. But, as Chris pointed out, strange to have the tripod in place.
Pictures of the kids body show it at the lower left area of the roof, not at the apex. If this was his location, that would explain the need for the tripod to shoot over the apex of the roof. Of course it would also mean there is no way the kid could have been the real shooter.
Apparently it was his fathers gun.
sniper and spotter = one team
Law enforcement snipers identify the target, rules of engagement, yeah, yeah, that explains not shooting until shot at, but why wasn’t Trump whisked away and protected as soon as they identified the threat? Everything makes it worse for the SS. They didn’t have to wait for shooting to get him to safety. Trump was deliberately left in harm’s way, the question is who made that call?
Yes, it was a total cock up by Secret Service. Supervisors need to be fired.
But won’t be…
Trump was protected; until they know the exact location of the shooter it is best to keep him down, you don’t drag him out in the open and expose him again until you know exactly where you are going.
Mayorkas appears to have more explaining to congress.. He never answers their questions and gets very indignant when challenged or shown to be lying.
I bet a nickel for a penny if I am wrong.
I had jumped to conclusions but after listening to your really intersting guest I realize that it’s not so straightforward as I had thought.
I’ll stay tuned to Sonar 21 for more updates.
So, there was no pre-meeting among Secret Service and law enforcement identifying the positions of all legitimate law enforcement so that anyone would recognize a discrepancy?
Huge if true. Apparently SS sniper had bead on assassin for 3 minutes and told to stand down.
https://x.com/CultureWar2020/status/1812525591104766418
Yes, probably true!
Even if the senior commander refused to allow the sniper to shoot (why?) that still means that they had received a report of a possible rifle being in play.
Three minutes is plenty of time to order the agents on the platform to rush up to the podium and usher Trump off the stage, and if it turns out later that the report was wrong then there is no harm either way.
But those agents did not react until the shots were fired, which can only mean that those agents were not told about the report of an unidentified person on a rooftop with a rifle.
The refusal to allow a shot at the suspect is, sorta’, understandable, but the failure to get Trump off the stage until the report could be confirmed/refuted is inexplicable.
Yes, it was either incompetence or something darker.
Your reaction highlights the repeated human weakness of an immediate first human reaction to “give people the benefit of doubt”!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It is just toooooo easy and acceptable to explain away everything with the “incompetence excuse”!!!!!!!
Remember Kimberly Cheatle’s last major “incompetence excuse”? No, nothing nefarious going on!
Cheatle was appointed director during controversy the agency faced over deleting most of its text messages from Jan. 6, 2021, when a mob of Trump supporters attacked the US Capitol. The agency attributed text deletions to a data migration.
As part of the purge, texts belonging to more than a dozen Secret Service agents — including Cheatle — before and after Jan. 6 were deleted and never recovered.
Cheatle defended the agency in an interview last year, saying, “Our integrity is everything. And there was nothing nefarious attached to that.”
https://nypost.com/2024/07/14/us-news/secret-service-chief-kimberly-cheatle-facing-mounting-calls-to-resign-after-total-security-breakdown-at-trump-rally/
Watching the flag behind Trump, it was obviously pretty windy, and the wind was blowing from the front of the stage to the back. I don’t know what the windage at that range would be, but a low experience level shooter probably wouldn’t either. I’m going to guess that he missed largely because of this.
I don’t buy the idea of LEO’s just wondering who’s on the roof. How many agencies were on site? Two? Three? It doesn’t take five minutes to sort through that. Whitcomb is either incredibly naive or he’s pushing the incompetence narrative for a reason.
You’ve never operated as a sniper. Right? Chris is telling you how it is from the standpoint of an operator. And your claim that it does not take “five minute to sort through that,” simply reveals your ignorance of how these agencies actually operate.
No I have not operated as a sniper. I have to doubt that asking two or three unit commanders over the radio ‘Do you have a guy on that roof?’ ‘No.’ ‘Do you?’ ‘No.’ ‘Do you?’ is a very long process even for the Secret Service, though. And, having seen the shooter’s haircut, I don’t think anyone who put eyes on him believed for a second that he was a LEO. And even if it did take five minutes to find out that none of the agencies on site had a man on that roof- why wasn’t the close protection detail notified to cover him and get him off stage while they figured it out? It’s very hard for me to believe that they would have let him stand out in the open like that if they had heard chatter about a possible shooter on a roof. Am I supposed to believe that their comms are on a different frequency than the counter-sniper team?
The incompetence narrative is getting old. The genocide in Gaza is policy, not bad fire discipline. The Israeli civilians killed on Oct 7 by the IDF were killed as a matter of policy, not panic and incompetence. Victoria Nuland didn’t accidently overthrow the government of Ukraine and install a bunch of Nazis. None of these people are the geniuses they think they are, but they are still capable of doing evil acts on purpose. They aren’t perfect at covering their tracks, but they don’t have to be when people excuse them on the basis of incompetence.
Larry, would not all involved be communicating on a common frequency so all can be in the loop at once? Surely they were not so stupid as to have different communication modes for different people. It’s pretty easy to hand out devices tuned to the same frequency so all can get the communications same time. You seem to imply they aren’t even using mid to late 20th century communication methods. If all have walkie-talkies of some description, same frequency, it would have taken maybe 15-20 seconds to find out the guy didn’t belong. Of course parking his van and trundling across an open space carrying a gun may have been cause to go check him out, but they didn’t do that either.
I guess they had the Keystone Cops guarding Trump. One or two things, maybe mistakes or incompetence, but when it’s everything, you have to wonder if it’s more nefarious.
By the way, I’ve never been a sniper either, but have experience with communications in dangerous conditions (explosive, toxic environments, people spread out and not in view), and you make sure everybody is in the loop and on the same page at all times. Pretty basic.
radio communications are jealously guarded, you don’t want ANYBODY on your frequencies when shit goes down. During the Kennedy assassination there was a comms dropout when “a motorcycle cop had a stuck mike” that jammed the frequency…. yeah. now pull the other one.
Radios are better these days, but you still want frequency discretion.
HOWEVER, everybody should have known exactly where the countersnipers were located and the real issue is, “How was the sniper’s position left uncontrolled?” Especially since it was elevated and close by.
THAT is inexcusable and unexplained yet
You’ve never operated as a sniper. Right?
Rather a defensive kneejerk reaction.
Equivalent reasoning:-
You are not a doctor. How did you know he was dead?
His head was ten feet from his body.
But you are not a doctor . . . . I repeat, how did you know he was dead?
thats good
The Keystone Cops and the 3 Stooges could have put together a far better security team than these treasonous SOB’s. It’s obvious to anyone with even a smidgen of cerebral activity that this was a deliberate action on the part of our evil government.
So here is a professional special forces sniper who has worked security for notables. He doesn’t believe the incompetence narrative either. The interview is in the first 25 minutes.
BREAKING! Stunning New Details in Trump Assassination Plot Exposed | Redacted w Clayton Morris (rumble.com)
When you are expert at conspiracy, you make it look like Incompetence…
The fact that there are people in powerful positions looking at prison time if Trump takes office, you have to consider who benefits most from Trumps death. Every LEO learns to determine who profits from the crime…
In the meanwhile, an unexpected side effect: From Pepe’s Telegram
”
Comrade Trump is making an absolute killing on Chinese social media.
Trump is all over the place on Weibo – zillions of trending hashtags, some with over 450 million views, and a non-stop meme machine.
On Chinese social media, Trump is widely known as “Comrade Jianguo” (建国同志 [Comrade Build-Country])
This nickname has been in effect for years. “Build the Country Trump” (Chuān Jiànguó, 川建国) usually translates as “Making China Great Again” – as in whatever he does, China ultimately profits.
It’s a fascinating process: over the years, the avalanche of playful Trump nicknames actually reflect a blend of mockery and affection.
On Weibo, the iconic “fist” pic has been edited in all sorts of ways, for instance depicting Trump as a Communist champ with the caption: “Workers of the world, unite!” (全世界无产者联合起来)
And what about this Weibo comment: “I wish Comrade Jianguo a speedy recovery, may he continue to work hard for the ultimate mission entrusted to him by the Party.
LOL!
Uh oh! Now the Dems will release the Gang Dossier showing that Trump has been colluding with China to steal the election all along!
Just listened to this. THIS is what is supposed to happen in TV news, especially cable network full time 24/7 news where there is time, not babbling bullshit from people who don’t know what they’re talking about, and just make all manner of noises come out of their faces.
A lot very well clarified.
It became very understandable that:
1. Somehow, the protective snipers were alerted, and then also…
2 There was confusion and doubt about the person spotted, and they did not know for certain that this was a threat, not some other protection, until the gunman fired. (Which is obviously too late, and it was sheer miraculous luck there was not an assassination, and as it was, innocent bystanders were killed or badly wounded.)
The clear major problem mistakes were:
-not covering the roof where the attempted assassin set up (the BIG ONE)
-not covering this guy walking across a field with a rifle, finding out who it was and what they were doing
-getting Trump and any other people potentially under threat off the stage, under protection, as soon as there was a hint of a potential threat, until things were clear and resolved about who was where and what was what.
PS- As a trivial side item, taking a quick skim through the comments on the YouTube page below the video is another example of the sad reality that YouTube comments are as likely as not to be from complete fucking morons (who, along the way, will probably also tell you all about how it really is).
super informative.
Great discussion! A hypothesis: The Secret Service team, being short on resources, knew about the vulnerability, but had delegated perimeter security to local or state law enforcement, who dropped the ball either deliberately or through incompetence. By the time folks realized the out building was unguarded it was too late and sh*t had already hit the fan.
At last….someone who knows what they are talking about.
In my world the sounds were commonly known as “crack & thump”
Unless you have experienced live ammunition being fired towards & past you have no idea.
With regard to professional observation for likely threats & targets…your man is bang on…pardon the pun.
I’m still wondering why the firing point was not occupied by some type of Law Enforcement presence. What poor Recce & Threat Assessment.
With regard to the layered security that is supposed to exist…how many different “local & state” agencies were involved? What a clusterfuck.
My thoughts today are with the family of the firefighter who was shot in the head & those who were injured.
A trained police officer confronted the shooter and then backed off. Cowardice? Or something else?
The word “incompetence” is being thrown around a lot. However, I see no way it could be down to that as these local, state and federal officials train constantly for these kinds of scenarios. It is second nature to them, so if anything, it has to be down to mistakes – or something nefarious.
As for law enforcement knowing that a non-uniformed man with a rifle was crossing the field, climbing a ladder and positioning himself for a shot was simply a case of possible mis-identification delaying action against him, that is hard for me to accept. Security for events like this are fully thought out and it is vital for all agencies to know who is going to be where during the event so that situations like this DO NOT arise and an officer is shot by mistake. So to me there is something more at play here.
In summary everyone is highly trained and rehearsed for events like this so it can’t be incompetence. Mistakes are possible but high levels of training and rehearsal minimise that – that’s, after all, why you train and rehearse.
So what does that leave us? What hasn’t been talked about (at least that I have heard) is the chain of command in situations like this. It seems to me (and I honestly don’t know) someone senior has to receive this info real-time, assess the situation, make decisions and communicate that to all concerned – “Shoot”, “Don’t shoot”.
That someone knows everything that is transpiring as it happens. What if that command authority delays the final order – ie, they are either too slow to make it for whatever reason, or they intentionally delay. Command structures handling events like this also have to be well-oiled to make such decisions quickly and efficiently, I would think. So perhaps something happened to cause a bit of confusion as to what the current scene was presenting and thus causing a delay, or Command intentionally delayed the order.
With the Kennedy assassination the SS following the Kennedy car were told to back off at the last moment before the shots were fired, possibly to remove them from the lines of fire. They were filmed obviously questioning that order, but reluctantly did so as was their duty to obey. What happened in the Trump case? Was the delay intentional?
Hopefully, the FBI investigation will reveal the truth of the matter (IF, of course, it is an honest investigation and not like the Kennedy assassination. After all, nefarious actions like this have to be planned at a very high level of the command structure to eliminate mistakes between agencies under their command.
I have never seen film of the SS agents being told to back off from Kennedy’s car, EXCEPT at the airport when he first boarded his car.
Larry is it me or does that AR have a suppressor but no scope ?
Larry is that why you thought it was a 22 instead of 223, look at the gun laying on the roof it looks to have a silencer to me , how would he get that you need a FFL and stamps right?
I’ve defended Trump for years, so I’m not a liberal excusenik by any means… BUT
Trump is a reality TV star who’s long term association with the WWF is a matter of record.
When you watch the fist pump, stars and glory, triumphant Trump and DON’T start with the assumption something is being staged, I’m sorry but you’re being gullible.
It’s absurd that the shooter was permitted to get into position and that he got shots off before being taken out. He appears real, though his shooting prowess was legendary bad. Grazed the president in his ear due to him turning his head at the right moment?? Please…..
I’m not a trump a$$ kisser either but he’s a pretty ruthless businessman to say the least, and that would take a lotta guts to stage someone taking a shot at you, you gotta have balls of steel to do business in NYC and NJ, my bet is he had the balls to fist pump at the end
Thanks again for this high quality interview. From a layman’s perspective (never held a gun) I think it’s great when you cover what are absolute basics for you guys with a lot of experience on the matter. That actually makes one understand better the context and helps forming an opinion.
In this case you focussed more or less exclusively on the protocols and what the SS should have done. And while that was great, I wish you would have talked a bit more about the assassin himself and the instrumentalization of eople like him by the FBI:
a) general (in)competence: what points to him (not) being trained for the job (Brian Berletic made a video pointing out, that a professional sniper would not sit out in the open (“suicide mission”), e.g.)
b) if he weren’t acting on his own (like being used by the FBI or someone else, see my next point): would he be the kind of person (competence wise) someone would use for an assasination like this?
c) going into the history and practice of the FBI (and others?) to use people, instigate them to do a terrorist attack, train them and then in the last minute to arrest them and point to their success in preventing attacks.
Given the political climate in the US (insofar as I can tell from the outside) there is such an hostile environment towards Trump, for years now, that it’s no surprise that someone would take a shot at him on their own. But then there is the history of using would be assasins by the FBI. For me that makes it plausible to entertain both possibilities and see what fits the circumstances how.
For me a safe shot would be center mass. The officer would no doubt have been thinking about the consequence of a miss. the bullet would carry on for a km and then maybe hit someone.
As Pres. Biden just said
“In America, we resolve our differences at the battle box… you know, that’s how we do it, at the battle box, not with bullets,”
Turns out, it seems, that the shooter had some association with Blackrock. He apparently appeared in a Blackrock advert.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1812541427064189358
Blackrock rock has huge multi-billion investment in Ukraine. Trump wants to stop the war there.
Hmmm….
Blackrock rock has huge multi-billion loss in Ukraine.
There, fixed it for ya.
Alexey Filatov, retired lieutenant colonel of the Russian Federal Security Service and veteran counter-terrorism specialist, told Sputnik, explaining that the former president’s security was provided by three groups: his bodyguards, local police and the Secret Service and , it seems that there was no proper communication between the groups.
SNAFU.
Whitcomb clearly identifies communication.
Everybody keeps ragging on the SS for this debacle, and maybe it is their fault it happened, but this kind of systemic failure is happening everywhere, throughout this whole system of greed and corruption. It’s all coming apart at the seams as the empire crumbles. Larry got me thinking about doing some prose the other day: https://folkpotpourri.com/rotting-forest-of-a-decaying-empire/
Good morning Larry, just read this on the RT comments section. Its pertinent to your discussion with Chris. Cut and paste –
Trump Assassination Attempt: Law Enforcement Sniper at Trump rally had STAND DOWN ORDER. The following has been posted by Law Enforcement Sniper Jonathan Willis: “They wouldn’t let me take out (…) 7-14-24 (Sun) 16:03:40 No. 474066576 My name is Jonathan Willis. I’m the officer in the famous photo of the two snipers on the roof at the Trump rally. I came here to inform the public that I had the assassin in my sights for at least 3 minutes, but the head of the Secret Service refused to give the order to take out the perp. 100% the Top Brass prevented me from killing the assassin before he took shots at President Trump.” No. 474067739 “I didn’t follow the orders though, as soon as the shooter opened on Trump I returned fire despite strict orders not to engage. I had eyes on the shooter for three minutes watching him fiddle with his rifle and adjust the scope. It was obvious he was a shooter, yet I wasn’t allowed to engage. After I killed the shooter, I was arrested, questioned by the F.B.I. and just released an hour ago. Already lost my job for not following orders, but I am glad that I took the shots anyway.” This is the same B.S. that caused 13 U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan to be killed.
That’s a damning bit of evidence there. No wonder I haven’t encountered it on the “news”.
And there’s more. Many people were alerting security officials/police/SS for 3 minutes prior to the shooting, yet nobody made any move to get Trump to safety. It defies any logic that this was a mistake given the number of people pointing out the obvious guy with the gun and his location.
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/watch-new-video-shows-trump-shooter-climbing-roof-people-warning-police
You have to ask permission to shoot an active shooter????
Yeah, that doesn’t sound right.
What actually hit Trump in the ear? Wouldn’t a full on .223 penetrate his skull and kill him?
I’ve got my answer. A bullet grazed Trump’s ear, as I understand it.
People miss the danger of gamers who got access to Army methods, endless repetitions, desensitization.
Discord, a popular online chat site among gamers, claimed it has deactivated an account related to gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks.
The account “was rarely utilized, and we have found no evidence that it was used to plan this incident, promote violence, or discuss his political views,” said Clint Smith, Discord’s chief legal officer. Discord is collaborating with law enforcement, Smith stated. It wasn’t immediately obvious whether Crooks had other accounts.
Did this teener guy use gaming, for the Skill and the Will to Kill, as the book by Lt. Col. David Grossman shows? Straight back to the original school shooters – anyone remember Columbine?
Stop Teaching Our Kids to Kill: A Call To Action Against TV, Movie & Video Game Violence, Lt. Col. David Grossman (ret.) with Gloria DeGaetano New York: Random House, 1999
New edition, new website :
https://grossmanontruth.com/product/on-killing/
Movie and video game violence are a reflection of the violence that already exists in real life. The US government is the primo promulgator of real violence and a much more effective teacher.
All tobacco packs carry vivid cancer warnings.
Mass murder simulators do not, even when the Surgeon General published media violence warnings in 1971!
Today the murder simulators , even after Littleton, Paducah, still carry on. Grossman, shows how this works.
Besides Discord, there is this ;
Matthew Crooks https://www.instagram.com/allottofstuff/
First of all I would like to thank you both for your expertise. As things unfold,I am sure you will be proven right.My point however has another angle.
First off I have been concerned with security and terrorism issues here in Germany for some time, since the 1970s actually.
My opinion has been, and still is, that all security in the direct vicinity of the protected person (PP) is for the second shot/attempt. The measures taken in the area of crowd management, with metal detectors and other technologies should be standard but depend on the diligence of the personnel responsible.
Example:- on a flight out of Ethiopia I was patted down like one sees in films but not my back. I remarked on this and on the next flight round a month later backs were patted down as well.
People in a second car don´t hinder a shooter, nor agents running next to cars either. The agents around Trump could do nothing to save him had the bullet hit the target, they would have just been “pall-bearers”.
If one cannot invest in comprehensive perimeter control and have a detailed communication prior to deployment, everything remains 50/50. A substantial but clear briefing before hand would have eliminated any question to the identity of the shooter, as everybody should have known who was officially where at anytime during the event up until Trump left. Thus measures to take the shooter out, without having to guess his identity, could have been taken without having to have any doubt what so ever. Of course not having that roof occupied is the entire crux of the matter. Nothing else is really important. Whoever failed to cover that… well just amateur league.
Having played out the way it did, with chance, or a slight wind saving Trump´s life, demonstrates the shortcomings of the existing security setup practiced in today´s environment. Oh, by the way metal detectors are useless against ceramic weapons.
https://eir.news/2024/07/news/sare-july-1-statement-warning-of-attack-on-trump/
Sare July 1 Statement Warning of Attack on Trump
Excellent work Larry as always. Chris raised a very valid point about a delay in acquiring the target due to optics limitation, but as you pointed out, leaving that building’s roof uncovered was criminal. As soon as the two police snipers even suspected that something was not right, Donald Trump should have been put under cover until it was sorted out. It is all great and wonderful that the assassin was stopped but I could have sworn that the objective was to STOP an assassination, NOT clean up afterward. The whole thing stinks and when it comes to the SS, I always recall the video of the two SS men being told to get off of JFK’s rear bumper and how they claimed to have NO agents on the ground in Dealey Plaza. The grunts may be honest and decent, but just as Jim Comey betrayed US and the FBI, the SS leadership has always been as political as Che Guvara.
Not only was the buildings roof left uncovered, when a police officer confronted the shooter, he basically ran away, instead of engaging him. When does that ever happen?
I am usually of the opinion that government screw ups are the rule, and planned conspiracies are extremely rare, but this one is pushing the envelope…
Excellent point, I just heard that confirmed on a Fox News You Tube clip. People may be thankful that Donald Trump is ok, and so am I, but there is one man dead and two shot up critically that are a direct result of the “Preventative” measures once again preventing nothing.
If an honest cop in that situation was confronted with a man with a rifle, I think the reaction would be to duck, clear his piece while squawking ‘assassin’ and location, and then to raise his hand above the edge of the roof and start firing. Or to do the clear and fire part first. Cops really don’t like people with guns who aren’t cops.
Not only was the roof left uncovered, somehow the kid knew that, and that a ladder would be in place for him to climb. Go figure
Hi Larry,
I’ve resisted registering for various reasons, and generally will not watch video. However, this topic is too relevant to miss, so i held my nose and watched. My gratitude to Mr. Whitcomb for his insight prompted me to register simply to say thanks to you both for this interview. I am one of those folks who don’t really care much about guns, I have shot maybe 5 dozen rounds in my sixty years though I did qualify with a hand gun in the Navy.
I appreciate the analysis of trajectory and am most amazed by the idea of taking target practice at aspirin. Jeesh. If ever I have to engage in combat (god forbid) I will stay within 80 yards if I can!
It’s great to have a professional of Whitcomb (HRT, USMC Scout Sniper School) break things down for us.
I have one issue re: his speculation of a breakdown/confusion in Comms, and the SS/LE counter-snipers behind Trump not wanting to shoot at an ally/fellow officer:
At such an event, when the principal (Trump) is approaching/at the stage, and whoever is playing point on security, one would expect a radio-check exercise: making sure everyone is in place at their assigned position/station.
Now, for the counter-sniper teams, precisely to avoid any kind of “friendly fire” incident, one would assume that they are fully aware of who from any other allied force (Police, Sherriff, FBI, SS, whatever) is in what position.
Chris’s point was that real life does not play out like the movies, and things can take time when there are a whole bunch of players and different comms.
But this was not midtown Manhattan with a gazillion skyscrapers and the need to have a large number of counter-sniper and elevated surveillance teams. There were really just 2 (maybe 3 max). Anyone who is not known should be automatically identified as a threat.
Anyway, the biggest issue is why that roof structure did not have a counter-sniper team or a couple of LE officers in full uniform and with the ability to communicate with the team behind Trump is the biggest failure, and inexplicable.
All these you mention are correct. The two things that do stand out though is;
1 – Empty roof top that close?
2 – How this young 20 year old knew (it seems) to dress the part, as part of the security and brazenly walk across the field with a rifle and get onto that roof?
Exactly. Agree both with your (1) and (2). And there are some other head-scratchers.
A thorough independent review is needed, with technical experts like LJ and Chris W. able to challenge SS folks who try to defend their actions with a bunch of jargon and technical terms.
Something just doesn’t add up for me.
It is reported that Trump has changed his Conference speech as a result of his brush with death, and feels that God spared his life for a purpose.
That purpose can be found in Gaza and Ukraine, as well as the USA.
The Wold needs divine intervention. We can only pray that President Trump has the courage and strength to provide it.
Great interview with Chris, the one thing that comes to mind for me is …..
How did this young 20 year old seem to know or fluked into knowing, how to exactly, “blend in”, by being able to dress with khaki pants and shirt with US flag patch (or however he did dress) and openly walk across a field with a long gun, so he would blend in as part of the security detail.
Was shooter fed this info on the web, with AI or briefed by someone??
This was not a lone wolf hit. Period.
This was organised & coordinated- and not by this kid.
Someone told him he could be a hero and they would set it all up for him.
He was told where to go.
The path to the the peak of that roof was cleared for him.
The truth will never see the light of day.
We can’t know what would have happened if Trump was killed.
We do generally know what is ahead- no matter who is President.
America is bankrupt. Has been for years, but was able to keep the ponzi scheme going thru their fast depleting “sole superpower & biggest economy” schtick.
Now the printed USD and US tbills are not being absorbed by the rest of the world.
And the “sole superpower & biggest economy” schtick has been exposed as false.
Russia, China, Iran are not scared of or intimidated by America or NATO.
Russian has shown the world that a country can not only survive completely cut off from SWIFT, USD and the “west”, but you can actually thrive- while regaining/retaining your sovereignty, culture & traditions.
12 months max before the stock market bubble bursts and takes out every other teetering economic & financial domino.
Keep fixating on a 20 year old lone wolf master assassin.
Don’t pay any attention at all to the real & rapidly approaching crisis that will likely take out 50% of the American population.
Not that there is anything anyone can do about it.
But if you want to still be alive in 2 years- you should be focused on surviving- based on reality- not on the latest distraction.
I agree, except it will probably be more than 50% taken out.
Absolutely!!!
With gamer murder simulators, you get points, not shot back at.
There have been cases where gamers had a virtual model layout (a school). I hope the FBI seize all machines, and social media.
The young guy in Paducah, Kentucky fired eight shots, and got eight hits on eight different kids—a supernatural accuracy.
Some UKraine soldiers went into the fight thinking it was a game. Numerous videos appeared in 2022. LARP on uppers.
You all understand exactly what I am saying. And you all know that all of the Israeli money, as well as huge amounts of domestic Jew money (following October 7th), is behind Donald Trump. You know that the Jews threw Biden under the bus.
Excellent!
Great interview!!
https://youtu.be/ozCQwPyVKlE
CSnipers were scanning standing w binocs 7 min before, but were drawing bead on target during shooting. Sniper was probably not at south end of roof but midway or towards north end, using trees for cover. Sniper was using setting sun for cover. CSnipers were apparently doing Trained Policemen “shoot or dont shoot” decision. CSniper gun buck happens when csniper flinches at first sniper shot, pulls back instinctively on his tripod. (Last third: DEI woman bodyguard is a joke (skip)).
Other vids show low 3′ (garbage can? A/C unit?) step to back roof, linked to main roof. No ladder needed. Impossible to know about unless site pre-scouted.
4chan CSniper confession very likely a hoax. Also, another hoaxter impressionist evil twin does haha video, but his chin is not pointy enough. Many bored hoaxters in a wide world.
Parents both allegedly psych/social counselors.
I have difficulty believing a 20-yr-old high-school graduate, even w AP math, would think about the setting sun and crawling up the roof to tree cover. Unless maybe he’s done LOTS of Call Of Duty hours. Points towards indicating professional planning.
They were NOT “drawing a bead during the shooting.” Impossible to do with an optic with high magnification. They already had him dialed in.
My error, not knowing proper terminology.
First, on Google maps there is a 360 degree panoramic street view of the building from which the sniper fired at Trump. They are a series of photos of the buildings taken from from the parking lot. This was a private business, AGR International, Inc. From these photos, you can see that the roof was quite easy to scale. I wouldn’t have needed a ladder. I don’t know exactly where the kid’s car was parked, but there was a huge lot there, and he could have parked right next the building. The cluster of buildings there had private entrances from 2 different streets From what I’ve read, (NY Post) a local cop went to check after reports of guy with gun. Local cop went up ladder (brought by who?), sniper pointed rifle at him. He ducked, and sniper turned and fired several shots at Trump.
It seems plausible to me, that the police snipers on the roof were waiting for verification before shooting, which the local cop was to provide. I know people were claiming they alerted cops, but how? Were they heard clearly? Wouldn’t the police want to check first and verify the reports before they blew the kid’s head off? As for stationing officers at that site, as a private business not connected to the rally wouldn’t authorities need permission or a warrant to do that?
Just read on AP that there was no ladder. Cop had to be boosted by another cop to grab the roof edge to pull himself up. He lost his grip and fell when the gunman pointed the rifle at him.
https://apnews.com/article/trump-rally-shooting-butler-police-cdfd3f4b163f7f91b05eeefe21caa45a
In typical fashion of the Biden “the buck stops here” administration, the SS is giving the attempted dodge that the building was the responsibility of local authorities. What part of being responsible for the oversight and management of the entire scene don’t they get? It’s amazing that you can’t find anyone in DC that will take responsibility for anything that goes wrong
Campaigns present a special problem, as the candidate moves around and sites have to be vetted and controlled in advance, meaning you may even need multiple teams to do all the advance work on a fast-moving candidate.
This means that there is pressure on the teams to work fast and be meticulous, and there is PLENTY of room to screw up.
However, it’s not like there are people with rifles waiting at every campaign stop, either!
So that is a serious “coincidence” when the advance team fucks up and practically LETS an assassin get within shooting distance and then IGNORES WARNINGS… where were the police / FBI / Secret Service links??????