Northeast
Whistleblower reveals why Trump rally officer assigned to shooter’s perch moved
BUTLER, Pa. – Whistleblowers have told Republican Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley that a law enforcement officer who was assigned to monitor the roof of a building that would-be former President Trump assassin Thomas Crooks fired from on July 13 left their post because it was “too hot.”
Crooks, 20, fired multiple rounds from the roof of American Glass Research (AGR) Building 6, which was outside the rally perimeter but had a direct line of sight to where the former president was standing on stage at his campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
“This comes from a whistleblower with direct knowledge of the Secret Service plan and setup that day,” Hawley said. “And what this whistleblower tells my office is that there was at least one law enforcement person assigned to the roof itself. In other words, the plan called for a law enforcement individual to be on the roof at all times during the rally. And that did not happen. And what the whistleblower tells me is the law enforcement individual who was assigned to that roof abandoned it.”
Butler’s temperature reached a high of 92 degrees on July 13, and prior to the assassination attempt, emergency personnel at the rally were mostly focused on attending to people suffering from heat-related illnesses.
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Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., says a whistleblower told him law enforcement personnel were assigned to cover the roof of the building Thomas Crooks fired from at a former President Trump rally on July 13, but they left because it was “too hot” that day. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Hawley, who visited the rally site on Friday, noted that the AGR building in question was about 150 yards or fewer from the main stage of Trump’s rally.
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While Congress has confirmed that Crooks purchased a ladder at Home Depot prior to the rally shooting that left 50-year-old firefighter and father Corey Comperatore dead and two others — 57-year-old David Dutch and 74-year-old James Copenhaver — critically wounded, he could have accessed the roof of the AGR building without a ladder. Lawmakers who visited the site on Monday were able to reach the roof without a ladder.
“…He or she was too hot and just thought it was unnecessary to be out there.”
The same whistleblower told Hawley that multiple law enforcement personnel were also assigned to patrol the perimeter of the building “to make sure that somebody couldn’t just jump up” onto the roof, possibly from one of the air-conditioning units jutting out from the windows of the building, the senator said.
The Butler Farm Show in Butler, Pennsylvania, site of a campaign rally for former President Trump, is seen on July 15. Trump was wounded on July 13 during an assassination attempt while speaking at the rally. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
The roofs at the Butler Fair Ground in Pennsylvania, where a group of bipartisan lawmakers visited on Monday. (Fox News Digital)
“All of these whistleblowers who’ve now come forward to my office, saying things like: law enforcement was assigned to be on the roof, and they weren’t. They were assigned to be patrolling the perimeter of that building, and they weren’t. They were supposed to be communicating over a common radio frequency, and they weren’t,” Hawley said. “I have to say, none of that surprises me because it is just astounding with those kind of failures and errors that this 20-year-old was able to get up on in plain view of everybody onto that low-slung roof and take multiple shots at the [former] president.”
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Approximately one hour passed between the time law enforcement officials first identified a suspicious person near the rally grounds and the time Crooks fired. Officials temporarily lost sight of the suspicious person, but then around 5:52 p.m., a sniper “had eyes on him,” which was about 20 minutes before the gunfire rang out, Hawley said, citing a briefing he attended with former Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle last week.
The whistleblower also told Hawley that the Secret Service had delegated the AGR building and the roof to local or state law enforcement but noted that both local and federal officials have been pushing blame onto one another.
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“There’s a lot of effort on the part of both Secret Service, on the one hand, and DHS on the other hand, and then also state and local law enforcement to push the responsibility off onto each other. So this is just why we need to get these facts into the open. We need to have real and substantive hearings, not like the one [on Monday] where the former Secret Service director wouldn’t even respond to questions. What a farce that was,” Hawley said.
Thomas Crooks seen at the Trump rally on July 13 in Butler, Pennsylvania. (Sen. Ron Johnson)
His comments came the same day Cheatle resigned from her position on Tuesday morning.
“To the Men and Women of the U.S. Secret Service, The Secret Service’s solemn mission is to protect our nation’s leaders and financial infrastructure,” Cheatle wrote in a letter to the agency obtained by Fox News. “On July 13th, we fell short on that mission.”
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Cheatle said that the “scrutiny” over the last week “has been intense and will continue to remain as our operational tempo increases.”
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“As your Director, I take full responsibility for the security lapse,” she wrote.
Now, Hawley is calling for Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to resign, as well.
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., left, is calling for Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to resign in light of the assassination attempt against former President Trump. (Getty Images)
“Alejandro Mayorkas needs to resign. He’s the head of DHS. All of this is in his purview — Secret Service, the DHS personnel,” the Missouri senator said. “Another whistleblower tells me that most of the federal security there that day were not Secret Service. Most of them were DHS personnel who had just been detailed over to this event for the day. And they were largely not prepared, not read into the security plan, and were not executing their duties according to what the plan called for.”
TRUMP ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT: BUTLER, PENNSYLVANIA TOWN MANAGER DEFENDS POLICE AMID RESPONSE ‘MISCONCEPTION’
Hawley suggested the DHS is overwhelmed under Mayorkas’ leadership of the agency.
A DHS spokesperson said the agency “cannot comment on matters related to an ongoing investigation. We, of course, are committed to working with the appropriate and relevant investigations of what happened on Saturday, including with Congress, the Inspector General, and both internal and independent reviews.”
The Secret Service did not respond to an inquiry from Fox News Digital regarding Hawley’s comments.
“The Department of Homeland Security is in total crisis.”
“I think the fact that you have so many of these DHS security folks, a lot of them are designated as investigators — DHS investigators — whose jobs are actually to be out in on the ground in the continental United States, searching for illegals, looking for crime. So many of them have been sent to the southern border. So there aren’t that many of them available to begin with. And then you’re pulling people off of other responsibilities and sending them to this rally. They’re not adequately briefed. They’re not trained to do that,” Hawley said.
Mayorkas on Sunday announced that he has tapped a bipartisan panel of law enforcement experts to conduct a 45-day independent review of the assassination attempt.
“The men and women of the U.S. Secret Service make it the greatest protective service in the world, with one of the most solemn and difficult missions in government,” the DHS secretary said. “This independent review will make the organization even better.”
Hawley’s office continues to communicate with whistleblowers about the Trump rally shooting and what went wrong in order for Crooks to gain access to the AGR building rooftop that evening with an AR-15.
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The proposed new income levy would build on the state’s “Taylor Swift tax,” adding to a growing web of state-level measures impacting affluent households.
Rhode Island is moving closer to a new tax on high earners, adding to a growing patchwork of state measures aimed at the wealthy that advisors will have to keep tabs on for affluent clients with multistate ties.
Governor Dan McKee, who previously resisted calls for higher income taxes, is now signaling openness to a surtax on top earners as federal cuts squeeze the state’s finances.
As reported by Bloomberg, Lawmakers are revisiting a proposal for a 3% surtax on income above $640,000, roughly the top 1% of earners in the state, to help plug a projected deficit of at least $101 million for the fiscal year starting in July. McKee’s office has also floated an income threshold of $1 million for any wealth tax.
“We are in a spot where we’re going to have to address some of those headwinds that are coming our way from DC,” McKee said, pointing to reductions in Medicaid, food assistance and other programs by the federal government under President Donald Trump.
The debate in Providence mirrors a broader shift among Democratic policymakers who are turning to high-income households and owners of luxury property to shore up budgets and address what they see as a K-shaped economy. Neighboring Massachusetts has become a key reference point with its 4% surtax on income above $1 million, approved in 2022, which has reportedly generated billions in additional revenue.
On the West Coast, a billionaire tax proposal in California that would place a one-time 5% levy on all the worldwide assets of billionaires who resided in the state as of January 1 has sparked swift reactions from critics warning of a resultant wealth exodus.
For advisors, Rhode Island is already a test case in using real estate taxes to target the wealthy. A new surcharge on second homes valued at more than $1 million, dubbed the “Taylor Swift tax,” takes effect this summer. For non-primary residences, or properties not occupied more than half the year, the state will charge $2.50 for every $500 in assessed value above the first $1 million, on top of existing property taxes.
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Luxury brokers have warned the levy hits the very people supporting much of the local economy in seasonal communities like Newport and Watch Hill. “These are people who just come here for the summer, spend their money and pay their fair share of taxes,” Donna Krueger-Simmons, a sales agent in Watch Hill, told CNBC when that property tax was unveiled. “They’re getting penalized just because they also live somewhere else.”
Critics say some second-home owners are weighing sales and prospective buyers are pausing purchases or looking to coastal alternatives in nearby Connecticut. That kind of cross-border arbitrage will be familiar territory for advisors whose clients can choose among multiple high-end destinations.
Advocates counter that higher taxes on second homes and top incomes are necessary to keep tourist towns livable for year-round workers who keep service economies running. One commentary by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy argues that wealthy vacation-home owners and high earners can absorb surtaxes that fund housing, infrastructure and local services, and that states should design broad, progressive real estate and income tax systems rather than leaning on middle-income residents.
The proposed income surtax failed to make it into last year’s budget but is expected to be a central flashpoint in the current session. Rhode Island Senate President Valarie Lawson has supported earlier versions, while House Speaker Joe Shekarchi has said he is open to the idea but uncertain where the income line should be drawn.
“You can say tax the rich, but what is the rich?” he said.
The future of Vermont’s education system again hangs in the balance as lawmakers return to Montpelier this week to reconsider a sweeping law that would change how the state funds and governs public schools.
Six months ago, Republican Gov. Phil Scott and Democratic leaders in the House and Senate stood together at a bill-signing ceremony in Montpelier to celebrate the passage of Act 73. The landmark law launched a multi-year plan to consolidate Vermont’s 119 school districts into five regional governance hubs and ultimately shift control over school spending from local boards to the state.
“While this session was long and difficult and uncomfortable for some, we were able to come together and chart a path towards a system that better serves our kids and one that taxpayers can afford,” Scott said in July.
But that path may no longer be politically viable in 2026.
The critical first phase of Act 73 — mandatory school district mergers — has ignited fierce opposition in communities across Vermont. That resistance got amplified last month when a task force appointed by the Legislature to draw new district maps rejected the premise of forced consolidation altogether.
In its final report, the group cited “strong concerns about student wellbeing, loss of local control, transportation burdens, rural equity, and a process perceived as rushed or unclear.”
Cornwall Rep. Peter Conlon, the Democratic chair of the House Education Committee, said lawmakers now have to confront the possibility that Act 73 no longer has the political support needed to move forward as originally envisioned.
“Whether state-imposed larger districts would pass the General Assembly I’d say is questionable,” Conlon said. “To be very honest, we’re still wrestling with the question of what the best way forward is.”
A new plan to rein in school spending
The seeds of Act 73 were planted on Nov. 5, 2024, when Vermont voters punished House and Senate Democrats at the ballot box following an average 14% property tax increase driven by education spending.
Republicans made historic gains in both chambers, shifting the balance of power and forcing Democratic leaders to negotiate an education reform compromise with Scott, despite significant resistance within their ranks.
Senate President Pro Tem Phil Baruth said he remains hopeful lawmakers can still move forward with district consolidation. But the Chittenden County Democrat acknowledged that the task force’s refusal to produce new maps has delayed implementation by at least six months to a year.
That delay also pushes back the rollout of Act 73’s centerpiece: a new “foundation formula” that would give the state the authority to set per-pupil spending levels for every public school in Vermont. Lawmakers view the formula as the primary mechanism for curbing education spending, which has increased by $850 million over the past decade.
With property taxes projected to rise another 12% on average this year, Baruth said taxpayers can’t afford to wait. He plans to introduce legislation this week that would impose hard caps on school budget increases ahead of Town Meeting votes in March.
“Now that we have this delay, I think it’s very hard to say that anything is going to produce savings within the next three or four years,” Baruth said. “So I started thinking about, ‘How could we reduce the rate of growth in the education system quickly?’”
Baruth said he has not yet settled on a specific allowable growth rate. He said the growth caps would be in effect for the next two fiscal years.
The proposal has drawn swift pushback from school officials. Sue Ceglowski, executive director of the Vermont School Boards Association, said budget increases are largely driven by rising health insurance costs that boards can’t control.
Imposing hard caps, she warned, would force districts to cut core student services. And she said the proposal comes as school boards put the finishing touches on spending plans they’ve been carefully crafting for months.
“Imposing hard caps on those same school budgets would inject chaos and confusion into the budget process, possibly postponing budget votes until later in the spring,” Ceglowski said.
House Speaker Jill Krowinski echoed those concerns. While she acknowledged the need to address what she called “unsustainable” property tax increases, the Burlington Democrat warned against a last-minute mandate.
“I am concerned that a last-minute pivot to new (a) school budget construct will upend communities and lead to rash decisions that will have a negative impact on our Vermont kids,” Krowinski said in a written statement.
Redistricting or bust?
It’s now up to the Legislature’s education committees to redraw school district maps, though neither has a clear plan for how to proceed.
“The task force, whether you agree with them, don’t agree with them … it set the process back,” said Bennington County Sen. Seth Bongartz, the Democratic chair of the Senate Education Committee. “And so we’re going to have to regroup and figure out the path forward.”
Bongartz said he remains supportive of redistricting but warned lawmakers not to let opposition derail broader funding reforms.
“The funding formula that we have right now is not working, is not going to work, and is putting Vermonters in a position where they can’t afford to pay their bills, so we must fix the funding formula,” he said.
The governor, however, insists that no aspect of Act 73 can fall into place until and unless the Legislature votes to approve new district maps.
Jason Maulucci, the governor’s director of policy development, said the foundation formula depends on economies of scale that only larger governance structures can provide. Act 73 also envisions major reforms to special education, pre-kindergarten, and career and technical education, all of which, he said, require larger administrative units.
“We don’t see a scenario where the foundation formula that we established last year would work well at all with 119 districts of significantly different sizes,” Maulucci said. “They need the protection of scale in order to make the best budget decisions given the funding that will be provided them.”
A different path
Jericho Rep. Edye Graning, the Democratic co-chair of the School District Redistricting Task Force, was one of several lawmakers who drew the governor’s ire for failing to deliver new district maps.
She said lawmakers’ response to the group’s work has been far more positive.
“We have had more often than not an incredibly positive response to what we did, which feels much better than some of the other responses we got from the administration,” Graning said.
Instead of forced mergers, the task force recommended voluntary consolidation and the creation of “Cooperative Education Service Areas,” which would allow districts to share services such as special education, transportation, and IT.
Graning said the task force heard from thousands of Vermonters and received a clear message.
“Don’t try to jam through massive redistricting without public input and without creating trusted bonds within our communities,” she said. “It was almost a unanimous voice across the state saying, ‘Please do not close our schools, but also we know that there is some reform that is needed, but please do so slowly and deliberately and thoughtfully.’”
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