Basically USSS needs to be cleaned up!!
Susan Crabtree
@susancrabtree
#BREAKING and EXCLUSIVE:
J13 REVELATION THE SECRET SERVICE HERO OF BUTLER THE SR. COUNTER SNIPER WHO SHOT AND KILLED THOMAS CROOKS AND SAVED TRUMP'S LIFE – IS ALSO RESPONSIBLE FOR THE SECURITY FAILURES BUT ESCAPED DISCIPLINE.
The counter-sniper security plan for the Butler rally, was BOTCHED – plain and simple. The AGR building wasn't covered, there were trees partially obstructing the counter snipers' view of that building, + the two USSS counter snipers teams were both wrongly positioned behind the stage even though counter snipers are supposed to have 360-degree coverage of a site. And it was a counter sniper who didn't pick up the local law enforcement radios they offered to ensure coordinated communications. In fact, the ALL postings should have local tactical teams with them.
One BIG mitigating factor that is far more egregious in the aftermath of the news @chuckgrassley put out yesterday is that the counter-sniper teams were assigned very late in the process, allowing only two days to complete a plan that would normally take 5-6 days to complete. Now we know there was no reason for that delay, because USSS top brass knew 10 days beforehand about new Iranian threat against Trump's life and didn't inform all those in charge of security at Butler and didn't assign the counter-snipers until two days before the rally. That delay is on former Director Kimberly Cheatle, her No. 2 Ron Rowe, and Mike Plati, the head of Protective Operations at the time, who has since retired. Also, whoever was heading up the "War Room" charged with assigning security assets to rallies/events bears responsibility.
That being said, the counter-sniper plan and execution was a complete wreck.
New USSS documents released by @RandPaul and information I've gathered over a year of reporting, are implicating the most senior member of the counter-sniper team sent to Butler. But that counter sniper leader, David King, who was assigned to the J13 rally and the agent responsible for the Crooks killshot, was not part of the 6 agents who have been suspended for between 10-42 days.
Instead, John Marciniak, a far more junior officer who was charged with coming up with the counter-sniper security plan that ultimately allowed the AGR roof to remain uncovered, took the fall. But King was his supervisor and the most senior member of the four-man CS team, and therefore, ultimately responsible for making sure all the lines of sight were addressed properly, including the AGR building where Crooks fired his shots.
How junior was Marciniak to King? King had twice as much time on the job and five times the experience in the team, by comparison.
Are you detecting a theme here?
Two other supervisors on the Donald Trump detail charged with providing the ultimate oversight of a junior agent doing the advance work were also not disciplined. Instead, those two got BIG promotions.
Yes, I know that the optics would look horrible to suspend the officer who saved Trump's life – but he bears responsibility for the counter-sniper plan being botched. As a supervisor (his title is sergeant), he was supposed to come in and provide the experience to question the advance work Marciniak conducted. But that never happened.
I'm told by multiple sources, and this is important, that Secret Service supervisors don't try to perform their required duties to question advance plans and rock the boat out of fear that it could affect their advancement. It's a huge cultural problem in the Secret Service, as is the tendency for senior supervisors and top brass to protect each other and let junior officers and agents take the fall.
Below, I will provide a transcript from @RandPaul's report of David King's testimony to the Senate Homeland Security Committee. The aides were pressing King on his responsibility for the glaring mistakes in the counter-sniper security plan, and he was deflecting and wrongly, I'm told, placing the responsibility on Marciniak, a much, much more junior officer.
Last edited 12:17 PM · Jul 13, 2025
https://x.com/susancrabtree/status/1944431102632088020