‘I would’ve thought someone would’ve done something about it,’ he said.
Former President Donald Trump that he was not told about a gunman on the roof of a building before he was shot during a rally in Pennsylvania on July 13.
“Nobody mentioned it,” the former president told Fox News host Jesse Watters. “Nobody said it was a problem.”
Officials “could’ve said, ‘Let’s wait for 15, 20 minutes, 5 minutes.’ Nobody said … I think that was a mistake,” he added. “How did somebody get on that roof? And why wasn’t he reported? Because people saw he was on that roof.”
“When you have Trumpers screaming, the woman in the red shirt, ‘There’s a man on the roof,’ and other people, ‘There’s a man on the roof and who’s got a gun,’ … that was quite a bit before I walked on the stage. And I would’ve thought someone would’ve done something about it,” former President Trump said, noting what rallygoers have said in interviews with media outlets about what they witnessed.
The comments appear to be the first he has made that have have questioned the Secret Service’s preparations for the event. The former president has largely praised the agency for its response to the shooter, identified by the FBI last week as Thomas Matthew Crooks.
A bullet fired from the rifle used struck the former president in the right ear, although he appeared largely unscathed during public appearances last week. On that ear, he wore a bandage and was wearing a smaller bandage during his interview with Mr. Watters.
Hours after last week’s assassination attempt, the 45th president wrote a Truth Social post thanking the Secret Service for quickly rushing into protect him, and, during his speech to the Republican National Convention (RNC) in Milwaukee on July 18, he applauded Secret Service snipers for taking out the suspect after he opened fire on the rally.
Since the incident, questions have emerged about both the Secret Service’s and local law enforcement’s preparations for the event, namely as to how a 20-year-old was able to get on a roof with a rifle a clear line of site to the stage.
