EXCLUSIVETrump shooting task force obtains gruesome autopsy for Thomas Crooks as details emerge of would-be assassins bizarre behavior in days before
The leader of the congressional committee investigating the assassination attempt on Donald Trump says the autopsy report of shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks is stomach-churning.
The leader of the congressional committee investigating the assassination attempt on Donald Trump says the autopsy report of shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks is stomach-churning.
Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Pa., the top Republican in charge of the probe told DailyMail.com that the report and its grisly details are gruesome.
Kelly, who represents Butler, Pennsylvania, where the shooting occurred, has led several investigative trips to the fairgrounds where Trump spoke to further uncover details about the tragedy that left one dead and several, including the former president, injured.
On Tuesday, Kelly exclusively told DailyMail.com that the autopsy should not be seen by those who dont have a strong stomach.
Though he admitted he has not fully reviewed the coroners report, he assured DailyMail.com the contents were horrific.
20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks spotted at the Trump campaign rally site before the shooting occurred
The autopsy, theres a warning that goes with it, Kelly continued. Its pretty graphic.
He also mentioned how it is really important to remember the Crooks family when considering the autopsy, noting how they lost somebody that fateful day as well.
Kelly also disclosed that the FBI told him Crooks exhibited strange behavior before the shooting.
That included walking around the house talking to himself and flapping his arms, Punchbowl news first reported.
There was some indication that something was wrong, the chairman said.
And as the slow drip of information related to the shooting continues, a new report indicates that a top Secret Service leader has been asked to step down.
The Office of Protective Operations Assistant Director Michael Plati has been asked by his bosses to retire, Fox News first reported Tuesday morning.
U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PA) speaks to the press with other members of the Task Force on the Attempted Assassination of Donald J. Trump, following a tour of the shooting site at the Butler Farm Show Grounds on August 26, 2024 in Butler, Pennsylvania
Trump shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks is seen dead on the roof in chilling new video taken moments after assassination attempt
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump gestures as he is surrounded by U.S. Secret Service agents at a campaign rally, Saturday, July 13, 2024, in Butler, Pa
It indicated that Plati will end his service with the agency in the coming days.
Sources told the outlet that the move is related to the agencys performance during Trumps Butler shooting on July 13.
Plati was apparently asked to step down by the top brass, including Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe, who previously testified before Congress about the assassination attempt.
The agency reportedly also has another briefing planned for Congress in the coming days.
But a Secret Service spokesperson told DailyMail.com that Plati is stepping down on his own accord.
Assistant Director Plati was not asked to resign or retire by anyone. This was a personal decision that he has made and we thank him for his 27 years of dedicated service to the federal government, they said in a statement.
Michael J. Plati is a member of the Senior Executive Service with over 26 years of federal law enforcement and homeland security experience serving as the 24th Assistant Director of the Office of Protective Operations, where he leads the Agencys global protective mission and its 3,000 employees
Members of the Task Force on the Attempted Assassination of Donald J. Trump, tour the shooting site at the Butler Farm Show Grounds
The spokesperson also addressed whether Plati would be called on to testify before Congress.
The U.S. Secret Service respects the role of oversight, they said.
We have and will continue to make employees available for transcribed interviews and to date weve provided over 2,400 pages of responsive documentation to Congress.
These efforts will continue as our desire to learn from this failure and ensure that it never happens again is unwavering, the statement concluded.
The new revelations come as Congress continues to probe the shooting in their own investigation and as whistleblowers cry fowl on how the agency operates.
In August, a whistleblower is claimed to Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., that the lead Secret Service agent in charge of Donald Trumps deadly Butler, Pennsylvania, rally was inexperienced and failed to implement appropriate security protocols.
The shocking testimony came from a whistleblower with direct knowledge of the event, Hawley said.
Concerned over this lead agent, who was still doing protective visits as of early August, Hawley demanded in a letter to Secret Service Acting Director Ronald Rowe that the ineffective lead site agent be suspended and investigated immediately.
Your refusal to hold this individual accountable is increasingly inexplicable, Hawley wrote in the letter to the Secret Service boss.
U.S. Republican candidate Donald Trump is seen with blood on his face surrounded by secret service agents as he is taken off the stage at a campaign event in Butler
A Secret Service agent defends Trump after the ex-president got shot on stage in Butler
US former President and 2024 Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is seen with a bandage on his ear after being wounded in an assassination attempt
Rep. Clay Higgins, a Louisiana Republican who was appointed to Congress bipartisan task force reviewing the assassination attempt, also has run into trouble while reviewing the shooting.
He tried to view Crooks body on August 5 as part of his own personal inspection.
The former police captain said his request to view the body caused quite a stir and revealed a disturbing fact.
It was at this point that he learned that the FBI had released the body for cremation 10 days after the shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13.
Higgins says nobody knew that the body had been returned to the family, including the county coroner and local enforcement. He writes that the coroner still had legal authority over the body when the FBI made this decision and accuses the agency of obstruction.
