Last Saturday, July 13, 2024, someone took several shots at President Trump as he spoke at a MAGA rally in Butler Township, Pennsylvania. Trump was struck in the ear and arose bloodied but defiantly triumphant, telling the assembled crowd to “fight, fight, fight!”
The amazing photography, taken by Evan Vucci of the Associated Press, who was quick to capture the moment, resulted in the now-iconic photo, which hearkens back to raising the flag on Mount Suribachi during the April 1945 Battle of Iwo Jima.
The photo is so powerful, left-wing media editors have demanded outlets stop using it because it so obviously helps Trump.
But since that moment, and after the Secret Service rushed off stage, the information that has come out has almost entirely been shaped by the same federal law enforcement whose actions, and possible active actions and negligent inactions, put Trump in the position to have shots fired at his head.
Nearly all of the major claims and information about the Trump Butler rally shooting come from anonymous federal law enforcement sources in mainstream media outlets, and many of these statements seem self-serving, distracting, and obvious lies.
Disproving these federal lies becomes difficult because they are so poorly sourced in the media stories. Media outlets typically just refer to the original reporting by another outlet, and then it progressively becomes accepted fact that certain events transpired, even though their original sources are unidentified and the veracity of those claims rests entirely on the trust the original journalist has with the specific source.
On a high-profile story like this, reporters are desperately hunting for tips and leads to provide more fodder to write about the topic, but have very little to offer the public. So when a federal source comes bearing a tip “on deep background” it becomes appealing to use, but the reporter has no independent way to verify the tip’s accuracy. They must just take it on faith that federal authorities would not lie or misdirect them.
One claim about the relationship between federal law enforcement and the media is that it is significantly compromised to repeat the propaganda coming from Washington. This is usually referred to as “Operation Mockingbird” where the claim is that intelligence agencies of the government use widespread and systemic manipulation of U.S. media to serve its interests.
Carl Bernstein wrote, in his 1977 article in Rolling Stone, “The CIA and the Media”, that the managers, publishers, and reporters of almost every major media outlet were likely in service to the nation’s intelligence agencies. That doesn’t mean that, 47 years later, they still are, but it certainly suggests that federal interference and management of the media is likely to be ongoing and a major priority. The Biden censorship industrial complex, revealed as part of the Missouri v. Biden litigation, has shown that the White House wanted the ability to control social media companies and felt entitled to demand removal of individual posts related to Hunter Biden, COVID, the Wuhan lab leak theory, voter fraud, among other topics.
The motive for lying about this incident is obvious. It either represents an unbelievable series of security failures that happened to coalesce in exactly the right way for a lone gunman to take a few shots or it represents America’s further slide into a banana republic where its President and allied elites try to kill their viable political opponents. Either is a strong reason for federal law enforcement to spin, deflect, dodge, and suppress when dealing with the media.
But the available choices for excuses are criminal negligence or criminal murder.
Here are some of the more prominent claims made by the mainstream media that are completely sourced to federal law enforcement.
It’s also worth noting here that local law enforcement is referring all inquiries, at both the official and unofficial level, to the Pennsylvania State Police. The State Police are referring all inquiries, official and unofficial, to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The FBI is saying that they have no information to share at this time. So the way the mainstream media is obtaining these facts is through unofficial, unapproved leaks. The mainstream media has few ways to verify the information it is being given and their articles demonstrate that they are not skeptical or critical of the information at all.
Claim: THOMAS CROOKS IS THE SHOOTER
The identification of the body was made difficult, anonymous federal sources tell us, because the body lacked any physical identification such as a driver’s license or any other form of identification. But federal authorities were able to tell the New York Post on the day of the shooting that it was Thomas Crooks. It was sourced to ‘sources.’
Claim: THOMAS CROOKS WAS IDENTIFIED USING DNA TESTING
By 1:38AM, just a little over seven hours after Trump was shot, USA Today reported that Crooks’ body had been identified using DNA. Dr. Mollie James told the Gateway Pundit that identification by DNA is typically not possible that quickly. USA Today cited to an FBI Press Release for confirmation that the information was true.
Never explained is how federal authorities had a copy of Crooks’ DNA immediately ready to compare against.
Claim: CROOKS GAINED ACCESS TO THE AGR BUILDING BY USING A FIVE-FOOT LADDER
On Monday, CNN is reporting that Crooks buys a five-foot-ladder from Home Depot in his hometown. Yet this ladder does not appear in any photographs or drone footage from the day of the event. We have written a rundown of the way in which the ladder narrative of how Crooks gained access to the AGR building has evolved and how various federal lies about the roof access have changed. The unnamed federal tipsters also reveal to the New York Post that a receipt from Home Depot was found in his pocket.
Claim: CROOKS GAINED ACCESS TO THE AGR BUILDING BY CLIMBING AN AIR CONDITIONING UNIT
Here is Fox News saying that Crooks climbed onto an air conditioning unit to gain access to the AGR building. The exterior building of the AGR building has multiple access points. The Fox article cites to a “report” but then does not explain what “report” it is. The AGR building’s video security footage is not referenced, available drone footage is not referenced, it’s just a report that Crooks used an air conditioning unit to gain entry. If that were so, then why did he buy and bring the five foot ladder? If he climbed on top of an air conditioning unit, surely there would be a footprint on the unit, or perhaps he left the five foot ladder near the unit? None of these things are offered, it’s just all cited to a report. The obvious inconsistencies with the Home Depot five foot ladder are never explained.
Claim: CROOKS WAS CONFRONTED BY A BUTLER COUNTY SHERIFF’S DEPUTY SECONDS BEFORE THE SHOOTING
Here is ABC News reporting on Monday, July 15, 2024, that Crooks was confronted by an unnamed police officer mere seconds before Crooks started shooting. “Law enforcement tells ABC News a local police officer was on the roof of the building and confronted the shooter seconds before he opened fire on former President Donald Trump.” The officer is not named, and to this date, still has not been named. Nearby witnesses were not asked about this fact. No photos or video evidence supports this claim. This claim exists solely because law enforcement sources told ABC News that it was true. Here’s CBS reporting the same, but here sourced to local Sheriff Michael Slupe, who is now referring all inquiries to the FBI.
The New York Post has already declared the unnamed cop a hero for yelling at Crooks and falling off a ladder. Or maybe it was an air conditioner.
Claim: SNIPERS WERE IN THE AGR BUILDING THAT CROOKS WAS SHOOTING FROM
The American Glass Research complex at 615 Whitestown Road in Butler Township Pennsylvania has multiple buildings. It can be understandably confusing for individuals to determine which one is being discussed.
The American Glass Research company complex at 615 Whitestown Road in Butler Township, Pennsylvania
Initially, it was not known that snipers were in the second-story building overlooking the Trump rally. Crooks’ body is alleged to have been on top of the building on the far right in the picture above. These snipers have not been interviewed, the details of what they saw that day have not been disclosed, nor has the fact that they would have been in plain view of Thomas Crooks for the entire time he was prone on the roof.
The snipers overlooking the body of Thomas Crooks could have just as easily walked out to the roof and stopped Crooks from shooting.
For the over thirty minutes that the public was yelling about a sniper on the roof from the ground below, the snipers apparently didn’t notice the active shooter getting into place within 20 feet of the multiple windows they were looking out of.
Claim: LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE ‘PERIMETER’ THAT INCLUDED THE AGR BUILDING
When the Secret Service was criticized for not securing the most obvious building for a sniper to fire from, they said it was outside of their perimeter of responsibility. They deflected and blamed local law enforcement, represented by Butler County Sheriff Michael Slupe. Sheriff Slupe pointed to his Deputy who allegedly accosted Thomas Crooks mere seconds before he started firing on President Trump.
The Washington Post admits that local law enforcement told the Secret Service it could not protect or maintain security at the AGR Building, contradicting the Secret Service’s statements placing the blame on Sheriff Slupe.
This entire back-and-forth as to who is responsible for the security of the rally depends on the law enforcement officials involved disclosing the nature of the way they defended Trump and disclosing their operational plans. They should not be trusted to disclose their own failures thoroughly and honestly, and also should not be able to make such claims with credibility when there’s no way to independently verify the security arrangements as it could potentially cause another security failure elsewhere.
The only difference between reading the FBI’s press releases and reading the mainstream media is that the press releases have a name for their quotes.
If you believe the FBI, and if you trust their honesty and integrity, then you have all the relevant information you need in the mainstream media for this story and it’s an open-and-shut case.
The post Fed. Law Enforcement Controlling News about Trump Rally Assassination Attempt With Disreputable Anonymous Sources appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.
