CNN
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The head of a local law enforcement agency revealed shocking new details about the security failures that led to the near assassination of President Donald Trump at a House Homeland Security Committee hearing Tuesday, further deepening questions about the embattled U.S. Secret Service.
Pennsylvania State Police Chief Christopher Parris’ explosive testimony came just a day after resigned Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle testified before the House Oversight Committee and answered few questions about the shooting at the former president’s rally in Pennsylvania.
Paris told lawmakers about the interactions between the Secret Service and local police, who first spotted the would-be assassin, Thomas Matthew Crooks, and provided a more detailed timeline of events from when officers first spotted Crooks in the crowd to when the 20-year-old shot Trump.
Here’s what we can learn from Tuesday’s hearing.
Paris testified that two local police officers had left the building from their vantage point overlooking the rooftop from where Crooks had aimed his gun at the former president before opening fire.
Paris said two officers from the Butler County Emergency Services Unit, a tactical unit with sniper capabilities, left their posts inside the building to search for a suspicious person they first spotted and called other police – Crooks.
Lawmakers viewed video taken from the building where ESU officers had left their posts during a congressional tour of the rally on Monday, which showed Officer Crooks and his men eventually climbing to the roof and shooting Trump.
“So you’re saying, to your knowledge, ESU officers left the view out the window to go search for this individual?” asked Rep. Dan Bishop, a Republican from North Carolina.
“That’s my understanding,” Paris said, adding that officers had been searching the area along with other local officers. “We don’t know that yet, so we don’t want to establish a minute-to-minute timeline.”
Bishop also questioned whether the two officers who left their post could have stayed and seen Crooks get onto the roof. Paris said he didn’t know.
Paris said investigators believe Crooks fired eight shots before being shot and killed by a counter-sniper.
“I believe the number is eight,” Paris told the committee. “Eight shell casings were recovered.”
Authorities had previously confirmed only that a gunman fired multiple shots at a rally earlier this month.
Paris also told lawmakers that during a tour of the area before the rally, “several Secret Service agents” told the state police area commander that security at the building where Crooks opened fire was the responsibility of the Butler County Emergency Services Unit.
Paris testified that city officials confronted Crooks minutes before the would-be assassin opened fire on Trump.
Mr Paris said the brief standoff occurred when two local police officers, who knew Mr Crooks was on the roof, tried to climb onto the roof to confront the attacker, but while the officer was “hanging” from the roof, Mr Crooks pointed a rifle at him, causing him to fall.
“If the first shot was fired at 18:11 (6:11 p.m.), the hoisting of the officer would likely not have occurred. Again, I’ll give you a time, but I want to put it in the context of the series of events. I would say it was two and a half to three minutes before the first shot was fired,” Paris said.
“It was just a few minutes. Very quickly,” Paris said.
Secret Service director resigns following Trump rally shooting
“But why not the second one?” asked Rep. Dan Goldman, D-New York.
“I think it’s a few minutes,” Paris said, adding that he was answering to the best of his knowledge.
Paris said it was “currently under investigation” as to when the Secret Service and other law enforcement agencies were notified about the clashes at the rally.
Secret Service communications with local police
Paris also detailed conversations between law enforcement officials about Crooks before President Trump spoke at a rally earlier this month.
Paris said “there was an exchange of text messages going on” between him and members of the Butler County Emergency Services Unit, some of whom first spotted Crooks and reported him as suspicious.
“Once he used the rangefinder, our suspicions were heightened,” Paris said of Crooks.
State police subsequently received calls and text messages from ESU regarding Crooks’ actions and immediately passed them on to the Secret Service. At the rally, local, state and federal law enforcement agencies were in a unified command position.
“State Police verbally retracted that statement and turned it over to the Secret Service,” Paris said.
