Trump rally counter-sniper Ben Shaffer gives damning verdict on FBI ‘evidence tampering’ after assassination attempt
A SWAT sniper who was present at the Trump rally in Pennsylvania where a gunman opened fire has delivered a scathing verdict on the FBI’s alleged tampering with evidence.
Ben Shaffer, a sniper with Washington’s SWAT team, admitted it was “absolutely” concerning that the roof of the AGR International building, where 20-year-old gunman Thomas Matthew Crook was shot on July 13, was quickly cleared.
He also agreed with Republican lawmakers that it was suspicious that Crooks’ body was disposed of before the official autopsy could be released during a panel discussion hosted by the Heritage Foundation on Monday.
Shaffer subsequently admitted that Crooks had been promoted from a “person of interest” to someone “who would be eligible for some form of investigative apprehension” by officers because he was using a rangefinder.
Ben Shaffer, Washington’s regional SWAT counter-sniper, delivered a scathing assessment of the FBI’s alleged tampering with evidence during a Heritage Foundation panel discussion Monday.
The anti-sniper was questioned by Florida Rep. Cory Mills about the FBI’s decision to clear the sloped roof of the AGR International building. Former Secret Service Chief Kimberly Cheatle said the roof was too sloped to station an agent there.
“Does it strike you as odd that just days after the attempted assassination of President Donald J. Trump, while the roof was too slanted to position people for sniping operations, the roof was not too slanted for the FBI to, in my opinion, tamper with evidence by washing the roof where potentially important evidence was located?” Mills questioned Shaffer.
“Yes, I do,” he replied.
Mills then questioned Shaffer about his thoughts on releasing and cremating Matthew Crooks’ body.
“Do you find it odd… that not only was Matthew Crooks’ body released and cremated, but the coroner who was responsible for releasing the body knew nothing about it?” he asked.
“Sure,” Shaffer said.
Erik Prince, a former Navy SEAL who founded Blackwater in the late 1990s, said at the time, “It’s like destroying evidence.”
Five members of Congress were angry that they were not selected for the task force that held a meeting-style hearing at the Heritage Foundation, trying to find answers about the assassination attempt.
The hearing came about a week after Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.), a former police officer and member of the House task force investigating the attempted assassination, released a six-page preliminary report to a bipartisan, 13-member task force.
He said his Aug. 5 investigation of Crooks’ body “caused quite a stir and revealed a disturbing fact … the FBI released the body for cremation 10 days after July 13.
“On July 23, Crooks was gone,” Higgins wrote, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
He added that while the Butler County coroner formally had legal jurisdiction over the body, he “would never have released Crooks’ body to the family for cremation or burial without specific authorization from the FBI.
“The problem with not being able to examine the body myself is that I am not 100 percent certain that the coroner’s report and the autopsy report are accurate,” Higgins wrote.
“We’ll never really know,” he argued. “Yes, we’ll get reports and photographs, etc., but I’ll never be able to say for sure that those reports and photographs are accurate based on my own examination of the body.”
Shaffer was asked whether he agreed it was suspicious that the body of gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks (pictured) was disposed of before an official autopsy could be released
Higgins further claimed in his report that the FBI “cleaned up biological evidence from the crime scene,” which he said is unheard of.
“Agents never do that,” he said. “This pattern of investigative, scorched earth by the FBI is quite disturbing.”
But the agency denies any misconduct.
“Any suggestion that the FBI is interfering with Congressional efforts to investigate the attempted murder that occurred in Butler, Pennsylvania, is false and unfounded,” the report said. said in a statement to the New York Post.
“The FBI worked closely with our law enforcement partners to conduct a thorough investigation into the shooting. We followed normal procedures in processing the scene and evidence.
“The FBI continues to work diligently to develop the most complete picture possible of what led up to the shooting. We are also committed to maximum transparency in sharing information with Congress, including participating in public hearings, holding multiple direct briefings, and publicly disclosing information about the ongoing investigation.
“The crime scene was released to the property owners in phases as we completed our work on the AGR building, surrounding area and the Butler Farm Show grounds. Nothing was rushed and everything was documented as part of the investigation,” the agency added.
It also said it “took care of cleaning up the scene of the perpetrator’s death, which is in line with normal procedures.”
“The shooter’s body was released to his family after coordination with the coroner’s office and our state and local law enforcement partners. This is also in accordance with normal procedure.”
Higgins released his findings on the FBI investigation in an initial report last week
Mills, a veteran of the 82nd Airborne Division, has now promised that this will “not be the last” of its kind.
“This is a message to the entire Congress: If we are not going to select people based on meritocracy, we will continue to have independent investigations,” he said.
Meanwhile, several members of the bipartisan group visited Butler, Pennsylvania, on Monday.
Several people told DailyMail.com they were shocked by the sheer proximity of the building where Crooks was sitting to the stage where Trump was scheduled to speak on July 13.
They stumbled to the roof of the AGR building, where Crooks opened fire just a few hundred feet away from the former president, shooting Trump in his right ear.
The lawmakers walked around the meeting site for a while to “get a sense of the physical space” and “where this security issue was happening,” as Rep. Laurel Lee (R-Fla.) explained.
“And I can tell you that for many of us it raises more questions than the questions we came here with today, because we see that it is not a large area,” she noted.
“We can get a sense of the area and how close these buildings were to the podium where President Trump stood that day. So for all of us, it was a critical step in our research process to have the opportunity to see this, walk around this, and experience this.”
Lawmakers also visited the scene of the attempted assassination in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Monday as they try to determine the cause of the security lapses that led to the shooting.
Rep. Jason Crowe (D-Colo.), who served as an Army Ranger in Iraq and Afghanistan, also claimed that many “sight lines appeared to be unsecured” that day.
‘Certainly on this point, [I have] “Many more questions than answers,” he continued.
Chairman Mike Kelly (R-Pa.) even announced that it was too early to completely rule out “criminal negligence,” a move that could suggest that those responsible for the former president’s near-death and the murder of retired firefighter Corey Comperatore, who was attending the rally, could face criminal charges.
He also calls on his colleagues in Congress to step aside and allow the committee to complete its investigation before releasing more information about the attempted assassination of the former president by Thomas Matthew Crooks.
Higgins further claimed in his report that the FBI “cleaned up biological evidence from the crime scene, which is unheard of.”
The FBI denies any wrongdoing and maintains that normal procedures were followed.
When asked if his colleagues were undermining the task force’s efforts, Kelly told DailyMail.com in Butler on Monday: “As members of Congress, they can do that, but we were the only task force created by the Speaker and the Minority Leader.”
“I would love it if they would wait until we finally know what really happened, rather than backing out early,” he continued. “Backing out early is fine, as long as you know that what you’re saying actually happened.”
“We have talented people in Congress right now, and they love to do this stuff. That’s fine, that’s fine,” the slightly exasperated chairman said. “But there is a task force. It’s appointed by the Speaker of the House and the Minority Leader.”
“I wish – just give us time to get started on this. We didn’t just start today. This started in early August.”