Task force demands ATF records on Trump assassination attempt in Butler
Published in Political News
WASHINGTON — A bipartisan House task force is seeking a host of records and interviews with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms in connection with attempts on Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's life.
The task force, chaired by Butler Republican Rep. Mike Kelly, requested Thursday all records including transcripts, communications, reports, and details on personnel involved in responding to the July 13 shooting in Butler and an apparent thwarted assassination attempt at Trump's golf course in West Palm Beach, Fla. on Sept. 15, according to a letter Thursday to ATF leadership shared with the Post-Gazette.
Kelly and the task force's top Democrat, Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo., gave the ATF an Oct. 17 deadline for both the records and direct interviews with involved ATF agents.
Part of a series of investigative requests to federal, state and local agencies over the last two months, the letter comes about a month before Election Day and as authorities and the Butler County community brace for Trump's return to the site where he was nearly assassinated. The Trump campaign plans a rally in Butler on Saturday, where lawmakers and law enforcement say security will be significantly tighter following documented planning and communication failures leading up to July 13.
Lawmakers on the task force are curious to find out more about the ATF's response to both the Butler Farm Show grounds where 20-year-old gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire at a Trump rally in July, and "ATF's discovery and investigation of the improvised explosive device found" at Crooks' home, as well as efforts to find "the ultimate location of, and investigation of (his) vehicle," they wrote.
The task force's latest request follows their first public hearing last week, when local law enforcement leaders from Pennsylvania testified that they received little to no direction from the Secret Service before the attempted assassination unfolded.
It also comes as Trump continues to say his life is being threatened by Iran.
Kelly and Crow asked ATF Director Steven Dettelbach for "all documents and communications related to all credible threats to former President Donald J. Trump based on intelligence developed by any federal agency and shared with ATF that were considered active, ongoing or unresolved" as of the July and September events.
On Sept. 15, authorities arrested 58-year-old Ryan Wesley Routh after he allegedly staked out one of Trump's Florida golf courses for nearly half a day before the barrel of his rifle was spotted through shrubbery by a Secret Service agent scanning the course ahead of where the former president was playing. The agent fired toward Routh, who fled and drove away before being caught later that day; he now faces federal gun and attempted assassination charges.
The task force asked ATF also to send any evidence of "changes to ATF policies and procedures" implemented since either the July or September incidents.
The group also wants to interview an undisclosed number of ATF agents who provided "critical incident response functions at approximately 6:12 p.m." in Butler; who responded to Crooks' home; and who provided support in connection with the Sept. 15 event, according to Thursday's letter.
A bipartisan Senate panel, which released a report last week highlighting severe planning failures and communication breakdowns before and during the Butler rally, is also still seeking to interview an ATF agent who was present; the committee said that thus far, it had received only an informal briefing from the bureau.
Kelly told reporters last week that the task force is on track to release its findings in a report in December.
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