«Bodyguards make a lot of fatal mistakes»
There were most likely traitors in Donald Trump's security detail, who was the target of an assassination attempt on Saturday, July 13. This is evidenced by a series of fatal mistakes that were most likely made intentionally by bodyguards.
Military expert and former US Army officer Stanislav Krapivnik told MK about these mistakes and also explained how VIPs of Donald Trump's caliber are protected in the US.
In turn, military expert and head of the Center for the Study of Military and Political Conflicts Andrei Klintsevich told who was the ultimate customer of the assassination attempt on the main candidate for US President.
Recall that the shooting began during a speech by former US President Donald Trump to supporters in Pennsylvania. Shots were fired during Trump's speech in the city of Butler, in which he commented on the presidency of Joe Biden. Trump then grabbed his neck with his hand, covering the ex-president, and was surrounded by security officers.
After the shots died down, Trump was escorted off the stage by US Secret Service officers. Traces of blood were visible on the ex-president's face. It was later reported that he had been shot in the ear.
The shooter, a certain 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, was eliminated. As a result of the shooting, one of the spectators was killed, and two others were seriously injured.
The actions of the security during the Sunday assassination attempt raised many questions among professionals. Thus, military expert Stanislav Krapivnik, who lived in the US for a long time, told MK that the lack of professionalism of the security is very suspicious. And the version about the staging of the assassination attempt, which has already been voiced by supporters of the Democrats, is untenable.
— The bullet grazed Trump's ear, and then, as far as I understand, hit the man behind it, — says Krapevnik. — Trump was saved from death by centimeters; if it weren't for them, the bullet would have hit him in the back of the head. Therefore, the version about the staging does not stand up to criticism. Staging is not done like that. This was a real attempt on life. The fact that the killer missed is a great success for Trump and a real miracle.
— Usually they shoot in the chest, in the heart area. It is very difficult for any sniper to hit the head. Especially the head of a person who is constantly on the move. Even in Hollywood action films, they don't always shoot in the head.
— In general, to evaluate the actions of Trump's security, you need to know all the conditions, the situation. But in any case, we can confidently say that this is a complete failure. As far as we know, the killer climbed onto the roof of the building, which was opposite the place where Trump spoke. The shot was fired from 150 meters. According to the laws of sniper shooting, this is practically point-blank. The task of the special service that provides protection to VIPs is to pre-clear the site of any meeting. They arrive there a week before the event, conduct a full reconnaissance, find all, so to speak, vulnerable points from which one can shoot. If it turns out that the place is very dangerous, then they do not allow the event to be held at all, because they cannot guarantee safety.
Secondly, the very fact that the killer prepared a place on the roof where he could settle down and then fire raises a lot of questions. Because all such places where one could arrange a «lie-down» are closed off by national security agents so that no one can get in there.
Or they are filled with snipers who scan the space and monitor the situation all the time when the event is going on. Such places are under the control of agents all the time. It turns out that the killer not only got there, but was there with a rifle, took a position, aimed and then fired.
It is clear that this was not done instantly; the killer needed time to prepare. And the fact that he was allowed to do this is a serious failure of the security agency. They not only failed to identify a possible location from which the sniper could have fired. I don't know if this was done intentionally or due to negligence. This is a big question.
— Yes, it seems so. The job of the security is to immediately cover the person being protected with their bodies. Again, perhaps no one understood what had happened, because Trump himself began to realize something only after he saw the blood. Perhaps the security did not understand right away either. But the delay was simply disastrous. I think there will be a debriefing now. But at one time, the White House refused to provide federal protection to Kennedy Jr., although he was the main candidate for the presidency and there had been assassination attempts before the murder. The White House is using every opportunity to knock out all inconvenient candidates.
— Yes, there could have been traitors in the security. It is one thing for a small country like Slovakia, where there was also a recent assassination attempt on Prime Minister Fico. There have never been such political assassinations there, and one can understand why Fico's security was negligent in their duties. But it is a completely different matter for the United States, where it has become a tradition to kill or attempt on the lives of candidates or presidents. The National Security Agency is made up of super-professional people. Let me remind you that there have been many assassination attempts in the history of the United States. Four presidents have been killed. Therefore, I repeat, this is either a huge failure on the part of the security, or betrayal. But if Trump comes to power, and after this assassination attempt, this is most likely what will happen, the leadership of all these agencies will be in big trouble, because most of them betrayed him when he was still president.
— Look at those who were the victims of assassination attempts or attempted assassinations. And then look at their involvement in politics and draw conclusions — who is behind these methods. As for Trump, after what happened, I don't see how he can lose the election. After the assassination attempt, he looked like a superhero — there was no panic, when he went downstairs, he still managed to raise his hand and shout: «Fight!» In the US, they have already started selling T-shirts with this odious photo. After such a triumph, he should probably publicly kill a child to lose.
Another expert Andrei Klintsevich said that the assassination attempt on Trump was expected.
«In general, it is necessary to understand that the so-called global business, which is now making money on war, understands that with the arrival of Trump, this whole «tasty» shop will end and they will have to be content with completely different orders, unlike those that are now looming for the next decades…», — the expert concluded, adding that the Democrats are most likely the final customers of the assassination.
«For them, of course, the risks have increased many times over now, because if Trump wins, he will start to clean out this entire cabal, as they say, in full swing, so for Trump the risks have not disappeared. On the contrary, they have even increased, because they (Trump's opponents) will now make every effort to prevent him from taking part in the elections. Now they will throw in all the heavy artillery, some judicial authorities. Perhaps they will try to put Trump in jail, this is their backup option, and somehow eliminate him in prison.
As for the actions of the security, they also caused bewilderment in the military expert — some viewers saw the shooter, but the security did not react to these signals in any way.
«The Secret Service that guards the real president and the former one are different,» Klintsevich noted. «This is a completely different number of people. Hundreds of people provide security for the head of state, they arrive in advance, the cordon radius is completely different, a completely different number of forces and resources are involved in events. Trump, most likely, has small groups that directly provide his physical security in the inner circle. Because we see that the police snipers who were on the roof and whose return fire killed the shooter, they were police officers. Most likely, state police were involved in the security for this event, which raises many questions … Viewers are already commenting on the fact that everyone saw this shooter who climbed onto the (roof) of a hangar, or a garage, or some kind of building, they saw that he was armed, they saw that he was not in uniform. This was reported. And no one reacted to this. Despite the fact that various forces are involved in the security, including some private security companies, the secret service is still the coordinator, and it did not react in any way.»
The military expert also noted that the killer most likely used a semi-automatic rifle with high-velocity cartridges and tactical silencers.
«Moreover, he fired about nine shots. He used up almost a full magazine — as a rule, these rifles have ten shots, but sometimes 20-shot ones. This means that there was a certain slowness on the part of the special services… The shooter understood that he would not survive, because the space was too open and it was impossible to escape from there. The scenario of his elimination was part of the plans of those who ordered it,» the expert concluded.