The public realizes the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump does not pass the smell test, a suspicion one armed officer present at the fateful rally is now confirming.
Washington Regional SWAT counter-sniper Ben Shaffer agreed that several facts surrounding the shooting are suspect during a Monday panel hosted by the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C.
The panel consisted of several lawmakers not on the official House task force investigating the shooting.
Washington Regional SWAT operator Ben Shaffer, who was one of the counter snipers at the July 13 Trump shooting, made his first public remarks at an informal congressional today.
Here’s what we learned 🧵 pic.twitter.com/a5PsvVv4k4— Ken Silva (@JD_Cashless) August 26, 2024
According to The Hill, Shaffer was one of three experts and witnesses called by the investigative panel.
Former Secret Service agent Dan Bongino and former Navy SEAL Erik Prince spoke to the panel alongside Shaffer. The panel itself was made up of Republican Reps. Cory Mills of Florida, Eli Crane of Arizona, Andy Biggs of Arizona, Matt Gaetz of Florida and Chip Roy of Texas.
Mills, who headed the panel alongside Crane, said this was only the first hearing of the independent investigation into the shooting at Butler, Pennsylvania.
Do you trust the official investigation?
“This is a message to all of Congress that if we are not selecting people based on meritocracy, that independent investigations such as this will continue to move forward, that there are members who are conservatives who will not be silenced,” Mills said as the panel opened.
The official House task force is a bipartisan effort that traveled to the Butler shooting site on the same day as the independent panel.
While the Butler site was being looked over, serious questions were being asked in the nation’s capital.
“Do you find it odd that literally only days after the attempted assassination on President Donald J. Trump, while the roof was too sloped to place individuals for counter-sniper operations, that it wasn’t too sloped of a roof for the FBI to go ahead and tamper, in my opinion, with evidence by washing the roof off that may have had significant evidence on it?” Mills asked Shaffer, according to the U.K.’s Daily Mail.
“Yes, I do,” Shaffer confirmed.
The integrity of the rooftop where rally shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks set up a firing position and eventually succumbed to gunfire is paramount, and the flippant attitude towards preserving it is highly suspect.
Crooks fired eight rounds in a matter of seconds, hitting Trump’s ear and killing rallygoer Corey Comperatore.
The shooter’s attack was brought to an end as a shot “fragged” and disabled his rifle, with a following shot ending his life on the rooftop.
Another issue is the fate of Crooks’ body and the apparent rush to obliterate it before an autopsy could be performed.
“Do you also find it odd,” Mills continued, “that the body of Matthew Crooks had not only been released and cremated, but the coroner who’s responsible for releasing the body had no knowledge of it?”
“Yes, absolutely,” Shaffer said.
The destruction of Crooks’ body became a major point of contention when Republican Rep. Clay Higgins of Louisiana went to inspect the corpse. Instead of potential evidence, Higgins made a shocking discovery.
“My effort to examine Crooks’ body on Monday, Aug. 5, caused quite a stir and revealed a disturbing fact … the FBI released the body for cremation 10 days after [July 13],” Higgins said in a report released earlier this month.
Congressional Hearing In To Attempted Assassination of Donald Trump, Panel Includes Dan Bongino, and Erik Prince. Finally Some Sunlight Will Get On The Record pic.twitter.com/4VlUGX20lX
— Alex Jones (@RealAlexJones) August 27, 2024
Higgins serves on the official House task force.
At the Washington, D.C. panel, Erik Prince backed Republicans’ and Shaffer’s assessment of the shooting investigation, saying it “sounds like destruction of evidence.”
