Conspiracy vs. Incompetence
Segment #542
There still so many issues surrounding Thomas Crook and the attempted assassination of Donald Trump in Butler, Pennslyvania. I said at the time it was either a setup or incredible incompetence. This segment between podcaster Patrick Bet-David and top tier sniper Nick Irving discuss what should have been the plan weeks after Butler not months or years. I am confident with the people in charge now, many of these ideas have been implemented. The fact it took a year suggests the Secret Service still has a leadership problem.
“Polygraph Test On Everyone” - Sniper Breaks Down a $2M Plan To Protect President Trump
Patrick Bet-David sits down with Nick Irving, renowned sniper and author, to provide a play-by-play breakdown of the Trump rally assassination attempt. Irving shares his expert perspective on firearms and security as Patrick presents some of the most damning videos related to the incident.
Irving shares the true story of his extraordinary military career, including his deployment to Afghanistan in the summer of 2009, when he set another record, this time for enemy kills on a single deployment. His teammates and chain of command labeled him "The Reaper," and his actions on the battlefield became the stuff of legend, culminating in an extraordinary face-off against an enemy sniper known simply as The Chechnian.
Irving's astonishing first-person account of his development into an expert assassin offers a fascinating and extremely rare view of special operations combat missions through the eyes of a Ranger sniper during the Global War on Terrorism. From the brotherhood and sacrifice of teammates in battle to the cold reality of taking a life to protect another, no other book dives so deep inside the life of an Army sniper on point.
6 Secret Service agents suspended over conduct during attempted Trump assassination
The July 2024 incident left Trump's ear bloodied and a firefighter killed. ABC News
6 Secret Service agents suspended over conduct during attempted Trump assassination
The July 2024 incident left Trump's ear bloodied and a firefighter killed.
July 9, 2025, 7:11 PM
Secret Service suspends agents over Trump assassination attempt
Secret Service suspends agents over Trump assassination attemptABC News Chief Justice Correspondent Pierre Thomas reports on Secret Service agents being suspended in connection to the assassination attempt at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania.
Six agents were suspended by the U.S. Secret Service for failures connected to last year's attempted assassination of then-presidential candidate Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, an official told ABC News.
The personnel moves were confirmed four days shy of the anniversary of the July 13, 2024, shooting incident that left Trump's ear bloodied.
Corey Comperatore, a firefighter attending Trump's campaign rally that day, died in the attack.
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump is helped off the stage at a campaign event in Butler, Pa., July 13, 2024.
Gene J. Puskar/AP
MORE: Trump to head back to Butler -- site of 1st assassination attempt -- for weekend rally
Countersnipers in Trump's Secret Service who were on-site killed the shooter, identified by the FBI as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks.
In the aftermath of the shooting, an independent review by the Department of Homeland Security showed a series of law enforcement breakdowns had created an environment that left Trump vulnerable to a would-be assassin.
"The Secret Service does not perform at the elite levels needed to discharge its critical mission," the report found. "The Secret Service has become bureaucratic, complacent, and static even though risks have multiplied and technology has evolved."
The Secret Service director at the time, Kimberly Cheatle, resigned 10 days after the shooting.
An empty blood stained bleacher where supporters were gathered is seen after Republican presidential candidate former president Donald Trump was shot at during a campaign rally at Butler Farm Show Inc. in Butler, PA, July 13, 2024.
Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images
MORE: Motive still a mystery in Trump assassination attempt
The discipline against the six agents was issued in recent months, and the agents were given the right to appeal. The suspensions ranged from 10 to 42 days, according to the official, who was briefed on the agency's actions.
The positions of those suspended ranged from supervisory level to line agent level, a source familiar with the agency's decision told ABC News.
Just nine weeks after the shooting in Butler, Trump had a second apparent assassination attempt on his life while he was out golfing at his course in West Palm Beach, Florida.