Newly released body camera footage shows Secret Service agents and law enforcement officials standing over the body of the man who tried to assassinate Donald Trump, with one saying: “That’s him.”
The video captures an image of would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks’ body, and law enforcement officials appear to confirm that photos identifying him as a person of interest before he opened fire have circulated.
“So that’s the guy,” a Secret Service agent said, seemingly confirming that Crooks had been identified as a threat.
“That’s him,” a Beaver County official responded.
To be clear, these comments could also just be police confirmation that the body is that of the shooter.
The video was released by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), who accused the Secret Service of withholding information from the public and called for greater transparency in the case.
RELATED: Secret Service noticed suspected Trump gunman hours before he fired first shot, then lost him when he went to get rifle: report
Secret Service body cameras revealed
The Secret Service’s handling of assassination threats has come under greater scrutiny after body camera footage was released.
Various reports found that the agency had multiple opportunities to intervene and stop the attack, including when he tried to enter a safe area with a rangefinder in the hours before the shooting, and still Nearly an hour earlier, agents shared “a photo showing the 20-year-old sniper appearing to be crawling on the ground as he searched the area.”
The photo that has been circulating is referenced in this new body camera video.
“It was the sniper who sent the original photo of him getting off his bike, putting down his bag, and then he was out of sight,” a police officer told Secret Service agents.
They then scrolled through photos of suspected targets on their iPhones.
They lost him after “putting down the bag.” Can you imagine having explosives in that backpack?
BREAKING: Body camera footage from rooftop after President Trump’s assassination
Secret Service snipers took multiple photos of Thomas Crooks before the shooting, officials said. pic.twitter.com/E4dVx7SbwN
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) July 23, 2024
RELATED: Trump questions how security allowed gunman on rooftop: ‘Corey could have been alive’
Grassley demands transparency
While it’s unclear whether the near-successful assassination attempt was entirely down to systemic incompetence, the body camera footage suggests a greater need for an investigation.
“Federal agencies, particularly the Secret Service, have failed to be transparent with the American people,” Grassley said in a statement.
“This assassination attempt is of great public interest and public matters should be made public.”
Trump publicly questioned some of the reasons behind the Secret Service’s inability to prevent an assassination attempt that ultimately resulted in the death of retired fire captain Corey Competore, who died protecting his family with his own body.
“Someone should make sure there’s no one on the roof,” Trump said. “They said they didn’t have enough manpower, which is crazy.”
The New York Post reported that law enforcement sources labeled the gunman a “threat” 10 minutes before the rally began “but allowed Trump to take the stage regardless.”
Two other rally attendees were seriously injured in the attack.
