Source tells Fox News would-be Trump assassin ID’d as ‘suspicious’ over an hour before shooting

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BUTLER, PENNSYLVANIA - JULY 13: Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump pumps his fist as he is rushed offstage by U.S. Secret Service agents after being grazed by a bullet during a rally on July 13, 2024 in Butler, Pennsylvania. Butler County district attorney Richard Goldinger said the shooter is dead after injuring former U.S. President Donald Trump, killing one audience member and injuring another in the shooting. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Republican Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming told Fox News the gunman who attempted to assassinate former President Trump on Saturday was identified as suspicious by law enforcement more than an hour before he opened fire.

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Barrasso made the statement to Fox News shortly after a briefing between Senate lawmakers and the U.S. Secret Service. “He was identified as a character of suspicion because [he had] a rangefinder as well as a backpack. And this was over an hour before the shooting actually occurred,” Barrasso said. “So, you would think over the course of that hour, you shouldn’t lose sight of the individual. Somebody ought to be following up on those sorts of things. No evidence of that happening at all.”

A Secret Service agent in charge of security for the event was on the phone with local and state police about the threat while the shooting took place, Barrasso said.

Barrasso also said there was no talk of reports that local officers engaged with the shooter before he opened fire. “They shut it after just a couple of questions and didn’t get to any of the meat of the matter,” Barrasso said.

Barrasso called for U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle to resign.

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“The American people shouldn’t feel comfortable with this,” Barrasso said. “This is a total failure [on behalf of] the Secret Service. We need replacement at the top.”

Senator Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee who also took part in a briefing with the Secret Service and the FBI, said she was “appalled to learn the Secret Service knew about a threat prior to President Trump walking on stage.”

“I have no confidence in the leadership of Director Cheatle and believe it is in the best interest of our nation if she steps down from her position,” Blackburn wrote in a post on X.

 

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