Joe Rogan has warned that the attempted assassination of Donald Trump “stinks to high heaven” and highlighted a series of glaring security failures.
Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, fired eight shots at the former president, the first of which grazed his ear, on July 13 while speaking at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
He was almost immediately shot dead by a Secret Service countersniper, but not before killing a Trump fan in the crowd and wounding others.
Rogan expressed his frustration over the unanswered questions in a Sept. 18 podcast with author Matt Walsh.
“This whole thing sucks, it sucks so much,” he said.
Donald Trump after being shot by Thomas Matthew Crooks on July 13
Some of the points they discussed were addressed a week later at a Trump Assassination Task Force hearing on September 26.
But investigators have yet to reveal many details about Crooks’ background and any hint of a motive for shooting Trump, in what narrowly avoided being one of the biggest security disasters in U.S. history and killed an aide.
They seized his electronic devices and are tearing his life apart to answer those questions, but they still haven’t revealed what they found.
“This is all crazy, who is this kid, why did he do this?” —Rogan asked.
‘Why did a 20-year-old boy shoot the (former) president? Why didn’t he have a scope?
Rogan then speculated about how good Crooks would be if Trump died trying.
“Think about how perfect a plan to murder someone would have been if you got this crazy, lonely kid,” he said.
Investigators have yet to release many details about Thomas Matthew Crooks’ background and any indication of a motive for shooting Trump.
“If he shot and hit Trump, if Trump didn’t turn his head at that crucial moment… and it’s a shot to the head, Trump is dead and the world is in chaos and this kid is dead a second later.”
“So it’s like ‘this crazy guy kills the president’ and that’s it and then it’s okay, now who’s going to run as a Republican, the world is in chaos.
“It would have been the perfect plan if that kid had made it.”
There is no credible evidence to suggest that anyone encouraged Crooks to shoot Trump, or that a third party helped him in any way.
However, Trump claimed that Iran’s hardline regime made “real and specific threats” to assassinate Trump very recently.
“Iran has already taken measures that did not work, but they will try again,” he said in a statement.
The veracity of the claim that Iran planned to kill him and targeted other American political leaders and public figures is an open question.
Joe Rogan expressed his frustration over unanswered questions in a September 18 podcast.
Rogan’s guest, right-wing author Matt Walsh, said it was a political mistake by the Trump campaign not to make the shooting the centerpiece of the Republican National Convention.
Rogan and Walsh also expressed amazement at how quickly Americans “overcame” the assassination attempt and how little impact it had on the election.
“The whole story is crazy and the fact that he disappeared is even crazier,” Rogan said.
Walsh said it was a political mistake by the Trump campaign not to make it the centerpiece of the Republican National Convention.
Instead, he had no political impact, unlike Ronald Reagan, who got a big boost when he was shot by a gunman in 1981, and everyone moved on within weeks.
“I wouldn’t be surprised, because we get distracted so easily, if people actually forgot about it and didn’t care two weeks later,” he said.
Commander Edward Lenz of the Butler County Emergency Services Unit, Trooper Drew Blasko of the Butler Township Police Department, Lt. John Herold of the Pennsylvania State Police and Patrick Sullivan attend a Task Force hearing. the House on the attempted assassination of Donald Trump
Law enforcement witnesses, many of whom were present at the demonstration during the shooting, detailed chilling aspects that unfolded during the messy day during the public hearing before the task force.
They include the exact moment shooter Crooks was taken out by a counter-sniper, just seconds after he shot the former president.
Officials expressed remorse for the death and carnage that occurred that day, and for the failures in preparation and communication with the Secret Service that led to it.
Task force Chairman Mike Kelly said the Secret Service’s lack of communication created confusion and compared it to the agency playing telephone during the crisis.