Newly revealed text messages show that shooter Thomas Crooks aroused police suspicion more than an hour and a half before former President Donald Trump even took the stage at a campaign rally at Butler, Pennsylvania.
The texts conflict with the 60 minutes talked about in congressional hearings, The New York Times reported Monday.
A law enforcement after-action report, along with the texts from Beaver County Emergency Services was provided to the newspaper by the office of Iowa's Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley.
In one message 97 minutes before Trump took the stage, a local countersniper who was ending his shift, texted his colleagues about a man outside the fenced area of the rally, saying the person would have seen him come out with his rifle and "knows you guys are up there."
The messages also showed that the officers said 25 minutes before Trump took the stage and 33 minutes before the shooting that they should inform the Secret Service that a "kid learning around building we are in. ... I did see him with a range finder looking towards stage. FYI. If you wanna notify SS snipers to look out. I lost sight of him."
The messages also add to the evidence that Crooks was often one step ahead of the Secret Service.
For example, Crooks scoped out the rally site a day before the Secret Service did and used a drone to survey the site the day of the rally while the Secret Service didn't seek permission to use one.
Crooks also researched how far Lee Harvey Oswald was from John F. Kennedy when he fatally shot the president in 1963 (265 feet) and managed to climb onto a roof that was 400 feet from Trump at its closest point.
Meanwhile, the Secret Service left that roof unmanned.
In addition, although countersnipers were assigned to watch the rally, Crooks was in a position to watch them.
The texts and footage, along with interviews by the the Times and public testimony by investigators, have also filled in much of what Crooks did in the days before the rally.
Crooks started searching online for information on famous people, including FBI Director Christopher Wray, Attorney General Merrick Garland, President Joe Biden and Trump, as well as looking up "major depressive disorder."
Crooks narrowed his focus to the former president and to past assassinations after Trump’s campaign announced the rally in Butler 10 days prior. Three days later, Crooks "did a Google search for 'How far away was Oswald from Kennedy?'" Wray told a congressional committee last week.
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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