United States Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle speaks during a press conference at the Secret Service's Chicago Field Office on June 4 2024 in Chicago, Illinois, ahead of the 2024 Democratic and Republican National Conventions.
A U.S. Secret Service official on Wednesday said that a local Pennsylvania police SWAT team was actually in another building than the one whose roof was used by a would-be assassin to shoot at former President Donald Trump on Saturday.
The Secret Service official's new account contradicts a prior claim by Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle that the 20-year-old gunman, Thomas Crooks, was on top of the building containing the SWAT team near Trump's campaign rally in the town of Butler.
Also Wednesday, a source familiar with the shooting probe told NBC that local police saw Crooks with a range finder, which is used to measure shooting distances, and that they had informed the Secret Service they were looking for Crooks with that device before Trump took the stage at the rally.
The new disclosures come a day after news that the Secret Service before Saturday's shooting boosted security for Trump when it was told of a plot to kill him by Iran's government.
Persons:
Kimberly Cheatle, Donald Trump, Thomas Crooks, Crooks, Trump
Organizations:
Secret, Office, Democratic, Republican, Pennsylvania, NBC, Service, Trump
Locations:
Chicago , Illinois, Butler