Top SWAT shooter says group had 'no communication' with Secret Service before Trump rally attack

The lead shooter on the SWAT team that worked alongside the US Secret Service during the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump said Sunday that the group had “no communication” with the agency until after of the shooting

In an interview with ABC News reporter Aaron Katersky, the local SWAT team from Beaver County, Pennsylvania, appeared on the channel to discuss security. concerns of the day surrounding the assassination attempt against Trump. On the day of the rally, the SWAT team was positioned on the second floor of the building that shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks later used throughout the day to shoot, and the lead shooter signaled that the SWAT team was to receive a “face”. – face-to-face conference” with Secret Service agents when they had arrived at the site; however, it never happened. (RELATED: Trump Vows to Continue Outdoor Demonstrations Despite Secret Service Advice)

“We were supposed to have a face-to-face briefing with the Secret Service snipers whenever they came, and that never happened. So I think that was probably a pivotal point where I started to think things were wrong because that never happened, and we had no communication with the Secret Service,” the SWAT lead shooter said in the interview.

Katersky then pressed the team's lead shooter on his statement, asking if he had no Secret Service communications “at all that Saturday.” The SWAT leader clarified that there was nothing from the agency “until after the shooting.”

“And then…” Katersky jumped before the SWAT marksman said, “It was too late.”

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Katersky went on to detail how the local SWAT team had identified Crooks as a “suspect” before the shooting, sending texts with a description and pictures of the 20-year-old. However, none of the information was passed on to Secret Service leaders due to a lack of communication between the groups.

The SWAT team had been assigned to the second floor of the American Glass Research Building 6 by the Secret Service and could only see the crowd at the Trump rally. Katersky noted that the team relayed that their failure to see Crooks was not because the roof was tilted or hot weather but it was because of where they were placed by the Secret Service.

Following the attack on Trump, former Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle received a flurry of backlash as reports continued to show the day's multiple security lapses. Despite the immediate calls for Cheatle to resign, he had had a meeting remains in office until July 23.

Cheatle handed it over resignation a day after her testimony before the House Oversight Committee, in which Republican and Democratic lawmakers denounced the director for security failures during the event.

“I take full responsibility for the security failure,” Cheatle said in a staff email obtained by The Associated Press. “In light of recent events, it is with a heavy heart that I have made the difficult decision to step down as director.”

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